Russia - WikiLeaks
Russia 100714
Basic Political Developments
• Itar-Tass: Medvedev congratulates France on on the national holiday – the Bastille Day
• 12th RUSSIAN-GERMAN CONSULTATIONS
o RBC: Medvedev, Merkel headed for next round of consultations
o Itar-Tass: Russia-German Petersburg Dialogue starts in Yekaterinburg - The representatives of the CIS, Russia and Germany take part in the forum. Russia and Germany host the annual event in turn, and usually the forums are timed to coincide with the German-Russian intergovernmental consultations. Russia’s president and Germany’s chancellor usually take part in the meetings (Vladimir Putin in 2001-2007, since 2008 – Dmitry Medvedev; Gerhard Schroeder in 2001-2003, since 2006 – Angela Merkel).
o Itar-Tass: Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel begins visit to Russia on Wednesday - She noted that many German ministers will take part in the interstate consultations in Yekaterinburg. “This proves how intensive and close our relations became,” Merkel said adding that Russia is an important energy supplier for Germany and Germany is Russia’s most important economic partner.
o RIA: Medvedev, Merkel to sign memorandum on Skolkovo project - The sides are due to sign a memorandum of understanding between the Skolkovo foundation and Germany's Siemens AG.
o Radio Mayak: Medvedev and Merkel will sign a memorandum on the project Skolkovo
o FT: Siemens to unveil Russian wind energy deal - Siemens is set to unveil a strategic partnership in Russia on Thursday that will see Europe’s largest engineering group enter the country’s fledgling wind energy market.
o iStockAnalyst: DB launches new container service between Duisburg and Moscow
o Bloomberg: Merkel to Oversee Siemens Energy, Rail Deals on Russia Visit
o Wireupdate: Russian President Medvedev and German Chanceloor Merkel to discuss bilateral issues
o RIA: German FM heads to Russia, Central Asia - German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle will attend Russian-German interstate consultations in Russia's Urals on Wednesday and Thursday and then visit Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan, German Foreign Ministry spokesman Andreas Peschke has said.
• Itar-Tass: Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to visit sport training centre in Sochi - Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Wednesday will make a working trip to Sochi where he will visit the Southern Federal Sports Training Centre and meet representatives of students’ brigades engaged in the construction of the Olympic park in the Imereti Lowland, the RF government’s press service reported.
• Itar-Tass: Medvedev to hold Council of Legislators meeting - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Wednesday will hold a meeting of the Council of Legislators. This meeting of the head of state with parliamentarians will become the 12th over seven years.
• VOR: Russian, Afghan, Pakistani, Tajik leaders to meet to discuss regional conflicts - The presidents of Russia, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Tajikistan are planning to meet in Russia in August to discuss ways of settling regional conflicts, Russian presidential aide Sergei Prikhodko has told reporters.
• ISNA: Iran MP calls for Russia not to repeat US rhetoric on N-issue - Boroujerdi rejected Medvedev's position as "fully illogical" saying that, "Iran's nuclear activities are clear and transparent and the IAEA inspectors can visit our sites and their cameras are monitoring Iran's nuclear work."
• RUSSIA-IRAN ENERGY DEAL
o Reuters: UPDATE 1-Russia, Iran sign energy cooperation pact - Sanctions no hindrance to cooperation-Russia oil minister; Russian companies can supply fuel to Iran; Ministers see "transport corridor" for gas, products
o Xinhua: Russia ready to ship oil products to Iran: minister
o Reuters: Russia to work with Iran on energy despite sanctions
o RIA: Shmatko: sanctions will not prevent cooperation of Russia and Iran in the field of TEK
o RIA: Russia and Iran have identified projects for cooperation in the field of TEK
o RIA: Russia's Zarubezhneft wants geological exploration deal with Iran - CEO
o RIA: Iranian oil minister in Moscow for energy talks
• WORLD DIAMOND COUNCIL IN ST. PETERSBURG
o Bloomberg: Zimbabwe Expects Kimberley Process to Approve Diamond Exports
o VOA News: Diamond Council To Meet On Zimbabwe Diamonds
o Israeli Diamond: World Diamond Congress: IDC Releases Code in Russian
• RIA: Russian-Latvian ties strengthen - Latvian PM: "We hope to sign a number of agreements with Russia. Among them are agreements on avoiding double taxation, on cooperation in the tourism sphere, and on fighting organized crime," Dombrovskis said. He said the agreements could be signed during Latvian President Valdis Zatlers's visit to Russia.
• Interfax: Moldova asks Constitutional Court to motivate ruling on 'Soviet Occupation Day' - Moldovan parliamentary speaker and acting President Mihai Ghimpu has asked the Constitutional Court to motivate its decision to invalidate his decree declaring June 28 Soviet Occupation Day.
• BBC: Georgia and Russia do business despite tense relations - Among other Russian companies doing business in Georgia are Itera, which owns several regional gas distribution companies there, VTB Bank and mobile operator VimpelCom. Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili said last year: "We are not going to hinder Russian companies from coming to Georgia.
• RUSSIA-US SPY PROBE
o Itar-Tass: Another RF citizen deported from US in connection with spy scandal
o LA Times: Another Russian deported in connection with spy ring
o RIA: U.S. deports Russian in aftermath of spy scandal
o RIA: Russian citizen deported from U.S. was Microsoft employee - media
o Bloomberg: Microsoft Says 12th Alleged Russian Spy Was Employee in Redmond
o TechFlash: 12th Russian spy worked at Microsoft
o Georgian Daily: Spy Scandal Points to Broader ‘Systematic Crisis’ in SVR, Moscow Experts Say
• RIA: Russia's Federation Council to discuss total drink driving ban
• AFP: HIV: Top medical journal blasts Russia over drug users
• RBC: The President of Bashkortostan has announced his resignation for tomorrow
• Moscow Times: Bashkortostan's Rakhimov to Bow Out
• Russia Today/Gazeta.ru: Rakhimov is leaving voluntarily
• Telegraph: Russian police officer hits back at Hermitage - A Moscow policeman has hit back at claims he took part in the biggest tax fraud in Russian history, claiming to have been libelled by William Browder’s Hermitage Capital Management.
• Russia Profile: Bracing for Impact - The Authorities May Be Bracing Themselves for Handling a Disgruntled Russian Society When Government Handouts Run Dry
• VOR: Mi-24 crashes in Dagestan
• Russia-IC: New Submersible Tested in the Sea - New Russian manned submersible “Consul”, designed for Russian Naval Forces, was recently tested in the Baltic sea.
Moscow News: Russian bailiffs have hunters in their sights
• RIA: New expedition to ascertain Russian Arctic shelf borders
• Interfax: The Federation Council approved the law on insider information
• VOR: Press review
o A meeting of ambassadors and special envoys to international organizations has ended in Moscow, Rossiyskaya Gazeta reports
o Highlighting the Russian State Council’s session on national food security, Kommersant daily writes that referring to food security as a strategic goal, President Dmitry Medvedev has called for Russia’s becoming a significant exporter of meat
o More European gas companies are willing to take part in Russia's South Stream gas pipeline project, ignoring its rival the EU's Nabucco project, Gazeta newspaper notes.
o The deputies of the State Duma (lower house of the Russian parliament) have come up with a new draft law obliging officials to report not only on their incomes and the incomes of their spouses and children but also on the incomes of their close relatives, Rossiiskaya Gazeta reports.
o Scientists predict that in the next 30 years heat waves will become a usual thing, RBC-Daily reports.
National Economic Trends
• Reuters: Moody's may turn more positive on Russian banks
• Troika: Russian fiscal performance looks solid
• Russia Today: Russian farmers struggle against scorching heat
• Bloomberg: Wheat Drops as Global Stockpiles May Make Up for Russian Losses
Business, Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
• Bloomberg: Rosneft, Mechel, VTB Group, Norilsk: Russian Equity Preview
• PBN: Russia-CIS IPOs: "lots of smoke but very little fire" 79 reports of planned IPOs but only 7 floats in H1 2010
• Bne: Russian mortgage loans top RUB1 trillion as of June 1
• Troika: ARMZ, Uranium One, Kazatomprom to launch joint marketing company
• RenCap: UAC plans to negotiate new contracts in Farnborough
• Moscow Times: Russian Post Restructuring
• Troika: Norilsk Nickel COO departs amid shareholder battle
• Emerging Markets: EXCLUSIVE: VTB Capital boost staff with five hires
• Reuters: UPDATE 1-Naspers buys 28.7 pct of Russia's Internet firm
• Market Watch: Naspers Makes Strategic Investment in Digital Sky Technologies (DST) - DST to assume full control of Mail.ru upon share swap with Naspers
• Bloomberg: Naspers Unit to Buy 28.7% of Digital Sky Technologies
• BBJ: Malév makes first repayment on Vnesheconombank loans
• VOR: Russian automaker to use Japanese press machine line
• Livetradingnews: Cathay Pacific begins regular flights from Hong Kong to Moscow
• Livetradingnews: BRIC: Freight turnovers see huge increase in Russia’s Far Eastern ports
• Moscow Times: For the Record
o The German and Russian governments are discussing Sistema’s possible interest in taking a stake in Infineon Technologies, a German official said Tuesday in Berlin.
(Bloomberg)
o Comstar United TeleSystems received an offer from Mobile TeleSystems to buy as many as 37.6 million Comstar ordinary shares representing 9 percent of Comstar’s issued share capital that MTS doesn’t already own for 220 rubles ($7) per Comstar share.
(Bloomberg)
o Kuzbassrazrezugol said Tuesday that first-half output rose 8 percent to 23.6 million metric tons as demand for coal grew. Output of coking coal, used to make steel, almost doubled to 2.12 million tons, it said.
(Bloomberg)
o Donald Trump is considering real estate investments including casinos and golf courses in Georgia after being impressed by President Mikheil Saakashvili during a meeting in New York, said Michael Cohen, a senior official with the Trump Organization.
(Bloomberg)
• Etfdb: Why Russia’s Trade Pact Is Big News For RSX
Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
• Interfax: FOREIGNERS TO GET 49% IN YAMAL LIQUEFIED NATURAL GAS PROJECT – NOVATEK
• Bloomberg: Shell Says Sakhalin LNG Project Turns Profit, Vedomosti Reports
• Metropol: LUKOIL may be forced to buy 51% of ERG's ISAB refinery at a premium to fair value this year
• RenCap: LUKOIL may buy the remaining 51% stake in ISAB refinery
Gazprom
• RenCap: Gazprom neft close to selling 5.7% stake in Sibir Energy to City of Moscow
• Novinite: German Papers: Gazprom Wants to Knock Nabucco Out
• Russia-IC: Gazprom throws up cards in India - For 10 years Gazprom has been taking its chance to find hydrocarbon in the Bay of Bengal. It failed. There is no specification of cash amount that the company has bleeded during these years, but the fact of material loss is obvious.
• News.az: Gas pipeline debated in Georgian Parliament
• : Gazprom quashes fears over Georgia pipeline stake
• Eurasianet: Is Gazprom Waiting to Pounce on a Piece of a Georgian Pipeline?
• Ria Dagestan: Magomedsalam Magomedov: “Gazprom” activity is an example of social responsibility of large business”
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Full Text Articles
Basic Political Developments
Itar-Tass: Medvedev congratulates France on on the national holiday – the Bastille Day
14.07.2010, 11.53
MOSCOW, July 14 (Itar-Tass) --Russian President Dmitry Medvedev sent on Wednesday a greetings message to France’s President Nicolas Sarcozy on the national holiday – the Bastille Day celebrated on July 14.
“Today, Russia and France are interacting more fruitfully in various spheres. The Paris and Saint Petersburg talks within the framework of high level visits once again confirmed the strategic character of relations between our two states; the bilateral and long-term intention to implement major and promising projects to achieve stable growth of trade-economic partnership. We are ready to strengthen further the mutually beneficial business cooperation with a focus on most progressive, high-technological spheres,” the message reads, according to the Kremlin press-service.
“We consider coordination of approaches to most relevant problems on the international agenda a bilateral dialogue direction of great demand. I am confident, Russia and France will make a substantial joint contribution to settlement of regional conflicts, will efficiently counteract global challenges and threats, which the humanity faces in the 20th century.
“The Years of France in Russia and of Russia in France have become a significant contribution to boosting multilateral ties. The large-scale cross-sectional events organized within the Years’ framework demonstrates vividly, how close the history and culture of our two countries are and how deep the traditions of friendship, respect and mutual sympathy are,” the message says.
12th RUSSIAN-GERMAN CONSULTATIONS
RBC: Medvedev, Merkel headed for next round of consultations
RBC, 14.07.2010, Moscow 10:33:42.As agreed upon previously between President of Russia Dmitry Medvedev and Federal Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel, the two leaders will meet for the 12th round of Russian-German intergovernmental consultations, with members of the governments of two nations attending, in Yekaterinburg on July 14-15.
In keeping with tradition, on the summit's sidelines, Medvedev and Merkel will take part in the closing meeting of the Russian-German public forum, "St. Petersburg Dialog." They are also set to meet with representatives of the business community of Russia and Germany.
Itar-Tass: Russia-German Petersburg Dialogue starts in Yekaterinburg
14.07.2010, 11.48
YEKATERINBURG, July 14 (Itar-Tass) -- Russia’s First Deputy Prime Minister, Chairman of the Russian Coordination Committee Viktor Zubkov and the Governor of the Sverdlovsk Region Alexander Misharin opened the discussions of the 10th Russia-Germany Forum Petersburg Dialogue. Russia and Germany in the next millennium is the topic of this jubilee session. Over 300 Russian and German politicians and businesses came to participate in the forum.
“The event has become an important factor for the development of partnership between Russia and Germany,” Zubkov said.
“Globalisation removes borders between nations and countries, and Russia and Germany share many joint interests,” he said.
Misharin said that it had been Germany that became the Sverdlovsk Region’s first partner back in the 1990s. He spoke about the cooperation with Baden-Virtenberg and Saxony, about the partnership with German enterprises in energy saving technologies, machine building and metal processing.
Russia’s President Dmitry Medvedev and Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel are expected to take part in the forum. This will be their third meeting over the Petersburg Dialogue.
The Petersburg Dialogue was organised at the initiative of Vladimir Putin and Gerhard Schroeder over their meeting on September 25, 2000 in Moscow. The purpose of the event is to bring closer the two countries, to overcome existing prejudices and to develop mutual understanding between Germany and Russia.
The representatives of the CIS, Russia and Germany take part in the forum. Russia and Germany host the annual event in turn, and usually the forums are timed to coincide with the German-Russian intergovernmental consultations. Russia’s president and Germany’s chancellor usually take part in the meetings (Vladimir Putin in 2001-2007, since 2008 – Dmitry Medvedev; Gerhard Schroeder in 2001-2003, since 2006 – Angela Merkel).
Itar-Tass: Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel begins visit to Russia on Wednesday
14.07.2010, 08.25
BERLIN, July 14 (Itar-Tass) - Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel begins her visit to Russian on Wednesday to take part in the twelfth round of the Russian-German high-level consultations in Yekaterinburg and the tenth Russian-German forum St. Petersburg Dialogue.
She is expected to meet with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, Germany’s Press and Information Office said.
Merkel said in her video message twenty years after Germany’s unification not only the life in the Federal Republic and the European Union in general, but also relations with the most important global players changed.
“First of all this concerns relations with Russia,” she said. “Today we have very close economic relations, good political cooperation within the framework of the G8 and the G20.”
She noted that many German ministers will take part in the interstate consultations in Yekaterinburg. “This proves how intensive and close our relations became,” Merkel said adding that Russia is an important energy supplier for Germany and Germany is Russia’s most important economic partner.
Merkel and Medvedev will take part in the forum St. Petersburg Dialogue.
It became an important platform, where representatives of the two countries’ civil societies jointly discuss the pressing issues on the international and bilateral agenda, the German chancellor said.
Meanwhile, the Eastern Committee of German Economy expects concrete results from the Russian-German consultations. The talks should be used to advance modernization through Russian-German efforts and to coordinate joint projects, the committee said in a statement.
Germany as the major industrial nation remains Russia’s partner in upgrading its industry, the chairman of the Eastern Committee of German Economy, Klaus Mangold, said. He described the Russian-German cooperation in creating an innovative centre in Skolkovo near Moscow as “an important signal.”
The Eastern Committee of German Economy supports Russia’s soonest possible accession to the World Trade Organization.
“After the sixteen-year talks on the WTO accession at last it is necessary to have a final political say both in the United States and in Russia,” Mangold said.
Yekaterinburg will become the first leg of Merkel’s foreign tour. The Chancellor will also visit Beijing to meet with the Chinese authorities. On July 18 she will visit Astana, Kazakhstan.
RIA: Medvedev, Merkel to sign memorandum on Skolkovo project
10:25 14/07/2010
MOSCOW, July 14 (RIA Novosti) - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and German Chancellor Angela Merkel will sign a memorandum of understanding on Russia's Skolkovo innovation hub, Russian Mayak radio station said Wednesday.
Medvedev and Merkel will meet on July 14-15 in Yekaterinburg as part of Russian-German interstate consultations.
The sides are due to sign a memorandum of understanding between the Skolkovo foundation and Germany's Siemens AG.
Medvedev and Merkel are also expected to discuss bilateral trade, economic, cultural and humanitarian ties, and international affairs, and sign more than 10 documents, including a memorandum on a managerial personnel training program, a statement of intent on cooperation in physical education and sport, and an agreement on cooperation between the countries' public health ministries.
They will also meet with Russian and German business representatives.
The Russian companies Rostekhnologii and RusHydro will also sign a partnership agreement with Siemens AG on the establishment of a joint venture to manufacture power units.
14.07.2010 07:19 "радио "Маяк" "
Radio Mayak: Medvedev and Merkel will sign a memorandum on the project Skolkovo
GOOGLE TRANSLATION
Center of political life today will Yekaterinburg. Return on working visit goes Dmitry Medvedev. But Chancellor Angela Merkel, Russian President will hold the 12 th round of Russian-Germany bilateral consultations at the highest level.
According to their results will be signed documents on cooperation. In particular, management training, on cooperation in the field of physical culture and sports, a memorandum of understanding between the Fund Skolkovo and Siemens.
Moreover, Medvedev and Merkel will take part in the final plenary session of the forum of civil societies in Russia and Germany "Petersburg Dialogue". Added that this will be the fifth meeting of this year, Dmitry Medvedev and Angela Merkel.
FT: Siemens to unveil Russian wind energy deal
By Daniel Schäfer in Frankfurt
Published: July 13 2010 23:15 | Last updated: July 13 2010 23:15
Siemens is set to unveil a strategic partnership in Russia on Thursday that will see Europe’s largest engineering group enter the country’s fledgling wind energy market.
Peter Löscher, chief executive, will announce the joint venture with two Russian partners on a trip to the country with Angela Merkel, German chancellor, people close to the political delegation told the Financial Times.
The joint venture, aimed at producing wind turbines in Russia, marks another step in Mr Löscher’s expansion strategy in this vast emerging market.
Mr Löscher, who chairs the EU-Russia round-table, last year announced an investment offensive in Russia in the middle of a global financial crisis that had thrown the country into economic disarray.
Since then, the German group has received orders worth several billion euros, such as the delivery of 221 locomotive-pairs to state-owned train operator RZD. Siemens will announce another order for 240 regional trains worth €2.2bn ($2.8bn) on Wednesday.
Siemens raised eyebrows around Europe last year with its intention to create a strategic partnership for nuclear power plants with state-owned Rosatom, at a time when questions about Europe’s energy dependency on Russia loomed large.
Thanks to its recent strong push into the country, Siemens’ Russian revenues of €1.3bn are expected to grow rapidly. Energy efficiency systems and renewable energy installations are set to play a significant part in this growth strategy.
Vladimir Putin, Russia’s prime minister, launched an initiative recently to lift the country’s minuscule share of renewable energy to 4.5 per cent of total energy production in the next 10 years.
The plan foresees the installation of 5,000 megawatts in wind energy capacity, worth about €5bn. Siemens aims to win a large part of these revenues.
Siemens has embarked on a race to become one of the top three operators in the fast-growing global wind energy sector by 2012.
The engineering group ranked only six in the worldwide wind energy market in 2009, trailing rivals such as General Electric of the US and Vestas of Denmark, data from Make Consulting, a renewable energy research firm, show.
While Siemens can sport a market-domination in offshore wind installations, it lags peers in the onshore sector. The company has a wind energy order backlog of more than €7bn, René Umlauft, Siemens’ head of renewable energy, has said.
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iStockAnalyst: DB launches new container service between Duisburg and Moscow
Wednesday, July 14, 2010 1:52 AM
(Source: Datamonitor)[pic]Deutsche Bahn or DB, a Germany-based national railway company, has launched a new container connection between Duisburg, Germany and Moscow, Russia.
The Moscovite line travels between Germany and Russia once a week during the initial phase, and covers roughly 2,200 kilometers in seven days. The train is operated by Trans Eurasia Logistics, a joint venture[pic] founded in 2008 by partners Deutsche Bahn, Russian Railways (RZD), Polzug, Kombiverkehr and TransContainer. DB and RZD each have a 30% share in the joint venture.
The freight transported on the first trains included electronics and chemical products. The new Moscovite link features train monitoring along the entire route, container handling at the departure and arrival terminals, pre-carriage and onward carriage service, and container provision.
Karl-Friedrich Rausch, member of the management board of DB Mobility Logistics, said: "We have seen an increase in customer demand for logistics services on this route. We are the first company to offer a scheduled direct container train from central Germany to the Russian capital. Together with our partners, we are doing our utmost to convince our customers of the advantages of the new rail link through excellent quality and a high level of safety."
A service of YellowBrix, Inc.
Bloomberg: Merkel to Oversee Siemens Energy, Rail Deals on Russia Visit
Bloomberg July 14, 2010 04:00 AM Copyright Bloomberg. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. [pic]
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
July 14 (Bloomberg) -- German Chancellor Angela Merkel will oversee the signing of deals including a 2.2 billion-euro ($2.8 billion) train order for Siemens AG when she meets with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev this week to boost business ties.
Merkel and Medvedev arrive today in Yekaterinburg, a city in the Ural Mountains region, to hold talks and meet business leaders from both countries. German and Russian companies will sign a series of agreements July 15, Medvedev's foreign policy aide, Sergei Prikhodko, told reporters yesterday in Moscow.
Siemens will agree to help develop a technology hub in the Moscow suburb of Skolkovo, and set up a wind-power venture with Russian Technologies Corp. and utility OAO RusHydro, Prikhodko said. The company will separately agree to supply OAO Russian Railways with 240 regional trains, said Marc Langendorf, a spokesman for Munich-based Siemens.
Russia, the world's largest energy exporter, is seeking help from western companies to upgrade its sprawling but worn out infrastructure and diversify the economy. Medvedev said July 12 that Russia should create "modernization alliances" with countries such as Germany, France, Italy and the U.S., putting its foreign policy on a more pragmatic footing.
Trade between Germany and Russia fell 40.6 percent last year to $39.9 billion. Trade in the first four months of this year was $15.2 billion, according to the Kremlin.
Medvedev and Merkel will also discuss issues of European security and Russia's cooperation with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Iran's nuclear program, Afghanistan and the Group of 20 Summit in Seoul in November, Prikhodko said. The leaders will also talk about energy cooperation and simplifying visa rules, he said.
--Editors: Jeffrey Donovan, Willy Morris
Wireupdate: Russian President Medvedev and German Chanceloor Merkel to discuss bilateral issues
Tuesday, July 13th, 2010 at 9:30 pm | Monica Lawrence | Leave a Comment
By Monica Lawrence
MOSCOW, RUSSIA (BNO NEWS) -- Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and German Chancellor Angel Merkel will be meeting to discuss a number of bilateral issues, Russian media reported on Tuesday.
Medvedev and Merkel will be meeting on Wednesday and Thursday in Yekaterinburg, in central Russia, to discuss trade, economic, cultural, humanitarian relations, and international affairs in Russian-German interstate consultations.
"Our priorities include European security, Russia-EU and Russia-NATO cooperation, and the implementation of G-8 and G-20 decisions," a Russian presidental aide Sergei Prikhodko said, as it is also scheduled for several Russian and German businesspeople to gather with Medvedev and Merkel.
According to Prikhodko, the countries will be signing over ten documents, including a memorandum on a managerial personnel training program and an agreement between the countries' public health ministries.
RIA: German FM heads to Russia, Central Asia
01:46 14/07/2010
German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle will attend Russian-German interstate consultations in Russia's Urals on Wednesday and Thursday and then visit Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan, German Foreign Ministry spokesman Andreas Peschke has said.
Westerwelle will meet with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov late on Wednesday in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg, where the Russian-German talks will take place. German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev will also attend the meeting.
On Thursday, the German minister will fly to the Uzbek capital, Tashkent, where he will meet with President Islam Karimov and Foreign Minister Vladimir Norov, Peschke said, adding that the talks will focus on the situation with Kyrgyz refugees.
More than 110 people fled to Uzbekistan from neighboring Kyrgyzstan amid deadly interethnic clashes that swept through the Central Asia republic in mid-June. Most of the refugees returned to Kyrgyzstan when the riots were over, but many of them still remain in Uzbekistan.
On Friday, Westerwelle, together with his French counterpart Bernard Kouchner, will visit the southern Kyrgyz city of Osh, where the clashes broke out on June 11, Peschke said. Hundreds of houses were destroyed in the Osh region during a week of riots that killed up to 300 people, according to official figures. Kyrgyz officials admit that the real death toll may be 10 times higher.
The two ministers will also visit the Kyrgyz capital, Bishkek, for talks with Roza Otunbayeva, who was approved in a recent referendum as the country's president for a transitional period until 2012.
"The talks will focus on the situation in Kyrgyzstan in general, particularly ahead of the parliamentary elections due in the fall and aimed at stabilizing the situation for a long term," the German Foreign Ministry spokesman said.
Westerwelle will wrap up his Central Asian tour by attending an informal meeting of foreign ministers of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) to be held in the Kazakh city of Almaty, Peschke said.
BERLIN, July 14 (RIA Novosti)
Itar-Tass: Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to visit sport training centre in Sochi
14.07.2010, 07.04
MOSCOW, July 14 (Itar-Tass) - Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Wednesday will make a working trip to Sochi where he will visit the Southern Federal Sports Training Centre and meet representatives of students’ brigades engaged in the construction of the Olympic park in the Imereti Lowland, the RF government’s press service reported.
The recreational-recovery centre “South Sport” makes it possible to hold in favourable climate conditions all year round educational-training and recovery sessions of the main and reserve national teams of Russia for training in the Olympic and Paralympic sports.
The South Sport complex includes such facilities as the central stadium with the capacity of 10,200 seats, a weightlifting centre, a yacht club with 50 mooring places and a hotel complex that, in particular, has equipment for comfortable stay of disabled persons in wheelchairs.
Technical equipment of the South Sport centre also allows holding training sessions of paralympic teams.
Putin also plans to visit the Olympic Park in the Imereti Lowland where he will familiarise himself with the progress of construction work at Olympic facilities and meet representatives of students’ construction brigades.
At present, about 1,500 students from 28 RF subjects, as well as from a number of CIS countries (Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan) are working at the Sochi Olympic construction site.
The 2014 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XXII Olympic Winter Games, will be the next Winter Olympics held from February 7 to February 23, 2014 in Sochi, Krasnodar Krai, Russia. The city was elected on July 4, 2007, during the 119th International Olympic Committee (IOC) Session in Guatemala City, Guatemala. This will be the first time that the Russian Federation will host the Winter Olympics; the Soviet Union hosted the 1980 Summer Games in Moscow.
The Games will be organized within two clusters, a coastal cluster in Sochi and a mountain cluster in Krasnaya Polyana. It is also the first time Olympic winter games and a Winter Paralympics start at the same time.
The Sochi Olympic Park will be built by the Black Sea coast in the Imereti Lowland. All the venues listed below are new and need to be built. The venues will be clustered around a central water basin on which the Medals Plaza will be built. This will provide a great compactness of the concept with the Olympic Stadium and all indoor venues of the Olympics gathered within walking distance.
Along with 2008 Russian presidential election, on March 2, 2008 there was an unofficial referendum held in Sochi to elect the mascot for the 2014 Winter Olympics. 270,000 voters along with their ballots received a coupon with four mascot candidates: Ded Moroz, a snowflake, a polar bear and a dolphin. According to a representative of Sochi city administration, the majority of Sochians voted for the dolphin. However, representatives of the Sochi Organizing Committee for the Games, which is to officially elect a logo and a mascot, commented, that while respecting the opinion of Sochians, such a procedure is usually held later, the mascot is to be elected not earlier than 2011 and the logo in the middle of 2009. They also pointed out, that the final version of the mascot should be a consensus of opinions of all citizens of the country and the result of work by professional designers and market analysts. On December 1, 2009 the official 2014 Winter Olympic logo was released. International Olympic Committee President, Jacques Rogge, said of the logo: “It's very appealing. It’s very creative, innovative. I think it will appeal especially to the young population.”
“sochi2014.ru” is the only Olympic emblem to include a web address. The mirror of “Sochi” and “2014” ‘reflects’ that Sochi is a meeting point between sea and mountains. As the main component of the Sochi 2014 emblem, the Olympic rings sit large and in colour to show that this is a symbol of progress for the Olympic Movement. The change of colours and inner design of the rest of the emblem encourages people to express themselves, with some expected to transform it using traditional images, while others will take an ultra-modern approach.
According to Sochi 2014 Olympic and Paralympic Organizing Committee President and CEO Dmitry Chernyshenko, the successful partnership and commercial programs will allow to use funds generated by Sochi 2014 for the 2009-2010 development period, postponing the need for the state funds guaranteed by the Russian Government. He confirmed that the Organizing Committee has successfully generated more than $500 million through the marketing program in the first five months of 2009.
The Olympic infrastructure is being constructed according to a Federal Target Programme (FTP). In June 2009 the Games organizers reported they are one year ahead in starting building the main Olympic facilities as compared to all of the latest Olympic Games.
According to the FTP, $580 million will be spent on construction and modernization of telecommunications in the region. Expected to be built: a network of TETRA mobile radio communications for 100 user groups (with capacity of 10 thousand subscribers); 700 km of fiber-optic cables along the Anapa-Dzhubga-Sochi highways and Dzhubga-Krasnodar branch; Digital broadcasting infrastructure, including radio and TV broadcasting stations (building and communications tower) with coverage from Grushevaya Polyana (Pear Glade) to Sochi and Anapa cities. The project also includes construction of infocommunications centre for broadcasting abroad via three HDTV satellites.
During the Olympic Games, the telecommunications backbones of UTK, Rostelecom and TransTeleCom providers will be used.
The fibre-optic channel links Sochi between Adler and Krasnaya Polyana. The 46 km long channel will enable videoconferencing and news reporting from the Olympics.
[pic][pic]
Itar-Tass: Medvedev to hold Council of Legislators meeting
14.07.2010, 04.21
MOSCOW, July 14 (Itar-Tass) - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Wednesday will hold a meeting of the Council of Legislators. This meeting of the head of state with parliamentarians will become the 12th over seven years.
The Council of Legislators is an advisory body comprising the leadership of the Federation Council and legislative bodies of RF subjects. The Council’s task is to assist interaction of the legislative power bodies of RF subjects, work our recommendations on the main legislation development trends, discuss the most important draft federal laws. The Council of Legislators is headed by the Federation Council chairman and all heads of legislative assemblies of RF subjects are members of the Council.
Last year Medvedev twice held meetings of the Council of Legislators, discussing measures to overcome the global economic crisis and to fulfil tasks of the president’s state-of-the-nation address to the Federal Assembly.
One of the issues discussed at the meeting is planned to be combating corruption in Russian regions. In April the head of state signed the decree “On the national strategy of combating corruption in 2010-2011,” laws on the fight against corruption have been adopted in almost all RF subjects. However, spokesman for the department for supervision over the observance of the anti-corruption legislation of the RF Prosecutor General’ s Office Alexander Mikhalin said earlier that over 260,000 violations of the legislation on combating corruption, on state and municipal service were exposed in 2009, which is by one-third more than in 2008. Over 35,000 officials were brought to disciplinary responsibility and 6,000 – to administrative responsibility. Mikhalin drew attention to the fact that many laws and normative acts contain so-called corruption factors that give a “possibility to make unscrupulous decisions.” Over 36,000 such acts have been revealed.
Late July is the last working days of parliamentarians that are going for recess. Therefore the summing up of intermediate results can be expected at Wednesday’s meeting.
VOR: Russian, Afghan, Pakistani, Tajik leaders to meet to discuss regional conflicts
Jul 13, 2010 21:34 Moscow Time
The presidents of Russia, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Tajikistan are planning to meet in Russia in August to discuss ways of settling regional conflicts, Russian presidential aide Sergei Prikhodko has told reporters.
The forthcoming summit “will tackle no super tasks”. This will be a “traditional meeting” whose four-sided format will help intensify dialogue and take an objective look at the situation in conflict areas, Prikhodko explained.
ISNA: Iran MP calls for Russia not to repeat US rhetoric on N-issue
Service: Islamic Parliament
1389/04/23
07-14-2010
12:51:45
News Code :8904-12215
SNA - Tehran
Service: Islamic Parliament
TEHRAN (ISNA)-An Iranian influential lawmaker Alaeddin Boroujerdi called for Russia on Wednesday not to repeat the US rhetoric on Iran's nuclear issue.
His remarks came after Russian President Dmitry Medvedev claimed that Iran is close to having the potential to build a nuclear weapon.
Boroujerdi rejected Medvedev's position as "fully illogical" saying that, "Iran's nuclear activities are clear and transparent and the IAEA inspectors can visit our sites and their cameras are monitoring Iran's nuclear work."
Also concerning the probability that Medvedev's remarks could overshadow launch of Bushehr nuclear plant, the Chairman of Iran's Parliament National Security and Foreign Policy Commission said, "completion of Bushehr plant is Russia's commitment and the project is closely related with Russia's regional dignity, so their dignity will be ruined if they fail to live up to their obligations."
He added, "Russia will lose opportunity for other projects in Iran if it does not leave a good record."
Also concerning missing Iranian scientist Shahram Amiri, he said, "according to intelligence, US forces abducted Amiri in Saudi Arabia and then transferred him to America."
As to legal pursuit of his abduction, Boroujerdi told reporters that, "basically, he must return to Iran, so that different aspects of the issue would be clear."
"The US must be held accountable legally for the terrorist action," he added.
Meanwhile as to the probability of exchange of Shahram Amiri with the 3 American hikers arrested in Iran, Boroujerdi said, "the issue is out of question, there are other 12 Iranians abducted by the US, so Amiri is not the only case, so if any exchange is to take place, it should include other Iranians."
End Item
RUSSIA-IRAN ENERGY DEAL
Reuters: UPDATE 1-Russia, Iran sign energy cooperation pact
Wed Jul 14, 2010 8:00am GMT
* Sanctions no hindrance to cooperation-Russia oil minister
* Russian companies can supply fuel to Iran
* Ministers see "transport corridor" for gas, products
(Adds quotes from Russia, Iran ministers)
By Jessica Bachman and Katya Golubkova
MOSCOW, July 14 (Reuters) - Russia's energy minister said on Wednesday that United Nations sanctions will not stop its work with Iran in energy and power, despite others backing away from the Islamic Republic.
The Russian and Iranian energy ministries signed a "road map" outlining long-term energy cooperation and said they will aim to set up a joint bank to help fund bilateral projects and expand cooperation in natural gas deliveries and oil products.
"Sanctions will not hinder us in our joint cooperation," Sergei Shmatko said, when asked about joint oil and gas projects after the signing ceremony with Iranian Oil Minister Massoud Mirkazemi.
Shmatko also said Russian firms could supply Iran with refined oil products.
U.S. laws sanction any company worldwide that exports the motor fuel to Iran in an effort to deter Tehran's nuclear enrichment activities. Iran says its nuclear activities are peaceful.
Iran, dependent on imports to satisfy its citizens' voracious appetite for state subsidised gasoline, has been shunned by many of its traditional suppliers, including independent trade houses and the trade arm of Russia's No.2 oil firm LUKOIL (LKOH.MM).
"We have not discussed trading operations, but if there is commercial interest and attractive terms Russian companies are ready to supply oil products to Iran without any doubt," Shmatko said.
The text of the pact said the two countries will aim to increase cooperation in transit, swaps and marketing of natural gas as well as sales of petroleum products and petrochemicals.
"We are neighbours and if a big project to create a south-north transport corridor is implemented I believe that we will create long-term supply opportunities, including for oil products," Shmatko said.
The two ministries also said they agreed "to prepare a broad joint road map for agreement on activities in power, nuclear energy and renewables"
The ministers will meet again in the fourth quarter of 2010 to finalise agreements.
Executives of major Russian and Iranian companies were present at the signing ceremony on Wednesday but agreed only two deals to boost cooperation.
Iranian national oil company NIOC signed a protocol with Russia's gas engineering company Cryogenmash to help it gasify 8,000 cities and villages in Iran with the use of liquefied natural gas technology.
Russian power engineering firm REP Holding signed with NIOC a deal to help modernise the Iranian oil industry. No further details were given during the signing.
(Reporting by Jessica Bachman, writing by Dmitry Zhdannikov and Melissa Akin)
Xinhua: Russia ready to ship oil products to Iran: minister
2010-07-14 15:48:56
MOSCOW, July 14 (Xinhua) -- Russia is ready to supply Iran with oil products, Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko said on Wednesday after a meeting with Iranian Oil Minister Masoud Mir-Kazzemi.
"Russian companies are prepared to ship oil products to Iran," Shmatko was quoted by Interfax news agency as saying.
"There are opportunities to supply oil products to the region if there is commercial interest," he said.
Reuters: Russia to work with Iran on energy despite sanctions
Wed Jul 14, 2010 7:23am GMT
MOSCOW July 14 (Reuters) - Russian Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko said on Wednesday that international sanctions against Iran will not hinder plans to develop joint energy and power projects with the Islamic Republic.
Shmatko also said he saw no obstacles for Russian firms to supply oil products to Iran if they decided to do so. (Reporting by Katya Golubkova and Jessica Bachman, writing by Dmitry Zhdannikov, Editing by Guy Faulconbridge)
GOOGLE TRANSLATION
RIA: Shmatko: sanctions will not prevent cooperation of Russia and Iran in the field of TEK
14/07/2010 11:26
MOSCOW, July 14 - RIA Novosti. Iranian Oil Minister Seyyed Massoud Mir-Kazemi and Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko believe that international sanctions against Iran will not prevent cooperation between the two countries in the energy sector.
"Sanctions can not prevent us," - said Shmatko told reporters on Wednesday after signing a joint statement the two countries, involving cooperation in the spheres of oil, gas and petrochemicals.
"Sanctions have no effect on the economic and industrial development of Iran" - said, in turn, Iran's oil minister, stressing that international sanctions were not directed against Iran, but against those companies that have cooperated with Iran on oil production.
"According to the present independent countries cooperating with Iran," - he said.
RIA: Russia and Iran have identified projects for cooperation in the field of TEK
GOOGLE TRANSLATION
14/07/2010 11:12
MOSCOW, July 14 - RIA Novosti. Iranian Oil Minister Seyyed Masud Mir-Kazemi and Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko signed on Wednesday a joint statement calling for cooperation between the two countries in the fields of oil, gas and petrochemicals, RIA News of the signing ceremony.
Joint Statement, in particular, asserts developed a joint Russian-Iranian working group in the petrochemical, gas and oil (EAP) "road map" of future projects. The parties agreed to explore the possibility of establishing a joint bank to finance projects in the field of oil, gas and petrochemical industries in the service operating activities concerned Russian and Iranian companies, as well as developing mechanisms for the use of national currencies of two countries.
In addition, the Joint Statement provides for the preparation of a roadmap to harmonization in the field of energy, nuclear power and renewable energy.
The Ministers agreed to explore the possibility of selling crude oil, produced in both countries in the oil markets, and promote other business partners for such activities. As indicated in the text declaration, the next meeting will be held in Tehran, the EAP in the fourth quarter of 2010.
RIA: Russia's Zarubezhneft wants geological exploration deal with Iran - CEO
11:58 14/07/2010
MOSCOW, July 14 (RIA Novosti) - Russian state oil company Zarubezhneft is interested in signing a geological exploration contract with Iran, the company's CEO Nikolai Brunich said on Wednesday.
"We are interested in the southern part of the Caspian Sea," Brunich said, adding that the company had already worked there in the 1990s and possesses some geological data.
"If we manage to sign a geological exploration contract, it will be positive (for Zarubezhneft)," he said.
The consortium may include Zarubezhneft, the state oil company of Iran and probably another Russian oil enterprise. The question is currently under discussion, Brunich said.
Iranian Oil Minister Seyed Massoud Mir-Kazemi is presently on a visit to Russia and has met with Russia's Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko to discuss energy cooperation.
RIA: Iranian oil minister in Moscow for energy talks
08:48 14/07/2010
Iranian Petroleum Minister Masud Mirkazemi will meet with Russian Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko during a one day visit to Moscow on Wednesday, the Russian energy ministry said.
Iranian media sources earlier reported that an agreement on the preparation of a road map for cooperation between Iran and Russia in the energy sector is expected to be signed during the visit.
Iranian SHANA news agency on Monday cited Iranian Oil Ministry Official Hussein Ismaili as saying that the road map would lay out a cooperation program between the two countries for the next 30 years. The official also suggested that investors from Iran may be able to invest in the Russian oil and gas industry.
He said the road map would ensure collaboration between Russia and Iran in developing oil fields in both countries, as well as oil and gas fields in third countries.
The road map may also cover issues like oil trade between the two countries, the creation of joint ventures and the establishment of a joint energy bank, the official said.
The UN Security Council approved in June a new package of economic sanctions on Iran over its controversial nuclear program.
Last month Russian senior lawmaker Konstantin Kosachev said new sanctions on Iran would not affect Russia's energy or military cooperation with the Islamic Republic.
MOSCOW, July 14 (RIA NOVOSTI)
WORLD DIAMOND COUNCIL IN ST. PETERSBURG
Bloomberg: Zimbabwe Expects Kimberley Process to Approve Diamond Exports
July 14, 2010, 3:50 AM EDT
July 14 (Bloomberg) -- Zimbabwe expects the Kimberley Process to certify diamonds produced at the disputed Marange diamond fields, enabling the country to resume exports of the gems, Mines Minister Obert Mpofu said.
Officials from the Kimberley Process, created to end the trade in diamonds mined that are used to fund conflict and war, will meet members of the World Diamond Council in St. Petersburg today and tomorrow to discuss Zimbabwe’s efforts to comply with conditions set out by the Jerusalem-based Kimberley Process.
“We are always expecting the best out of such meetings,” Mpofu said in an interview yesterday in Moscow. “We are hopeful that the process that has been followed to achieve full compliance is known by the members and the majority of the members are keen that we resume our exports.”
The certification of diamonds from Marange would enable Zimbabwe to resume sales of diamonds that were halted in May because Kimberley Process rules prohibit the trade of diamonds that it hasn’t certified. Zimbabwe currently has 6 million carats of diamond stockpiles that are “waiting to get into the market,” Mpofu said.
That compares with the 18 million carats produced annually by Botswana, the world’s biggest producer.
The southern African country is accused of abuses at Marange by New York-based Human Rights Watch, which says the military may have killed as many as 200 informal miners working at the site. The campaign group called for a ban on Marange diamonds unless Zimbabwe adheres to the Kimberley Process’s standards.
The Kimberley Process, an initiative by governments, industry and civil-society groups, runs a program to certify diamonds as “conflict-free,” according to its website. Conflict diamonds are the rough gems that have been traded by rebel movements to finance wars against governments, including those in Angola, Ivory Coast, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Sierra Leone, it said.
The Zimbabwean government seized the Marange mine from U.K.-based African Consolidated Resources Plc in 2006, without giving reasons. African Consolidated is challenging the seizure in Zimbabwe’s courts.
--Editors: Paul Richardson, Philip Sanders.
To contact the reporter on this story: Maria Kolesnikova in Moscow at molesnikova@.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Claudia Carpenter at ccarpenter@.
VOA News: Diamond Council To Meet On Zimbabwe Diamonds
13 July 2010
Vidushi Sinha
Diamond industry executives and human rights groups are to meet in St. Petersburg, Russia, this week to try and agree on whether Zimbabwe should be allowed to resume selling diamonds from its Marange fields. This is the second international meeting in less than a month to discuss whether diamonds from Marange should be certified, by the so-called Kimberley Process, for export and sale to international markets. Non-governmental organizations say human rights abuses continue in Marange as does smuggling by members of the elite close to President Robert Mugabe and his party, ZANU-PF.
The 1990s civil war in Sierra Leone, with militias killing thousands of civilians, underscored the problem of so called blood diamonds that finance armed conflict.
Out of that came the Kimberley Process, a program that guards against the sale of gems that finance those conflicts. Governments, industry executives and human rights groups signed onto it.
Since January, Zimbabwe has been barred, under the Process, from exporting diamonds from its controversial Marange fields.
But Zimbabwe's President, Robert Mugabe, says the country will sell the diamonds, even without clearance, in other words on the black market. "We can sell our own diamonds our own way, any way," he said.
Briggs Bomba, director of campaigns at Africa Action, a Washington based non-profit group, says that would spark an international crisis. "With or without KP certification, there is a market out there that diamonds from Zimbabwe can go to. So, what I see as the way forward is to really to speed up the process of making sure that whatever is outstanding in terms of Zimbabwe's meeting the KP requirements is resolved speedily and Zimbabwe is allowed to sell diamond through the KP process," he said. There have also been allegations of smuggling and skimming of revenue by those close to President Mugabe and his ZANU PF party.
Diamond industry experts say Zimbabwe's diamond output could reach 25 percent of the global diamond supply.
They say, without certification, so called conflict diamonds would re-enter the international market in a big way. And the Kimberley Process would become meaningless. In the extreme, some experts say, the US, the largest consumer of diamonds, could bar diamond imports.
The Obama administration opposes any attempt to export Marange diamonds outside the Kimberley Process. "We look for Zimbabwe to make further progress implementing the necessary steps to bring the Marange diamond fields into compliance with Kimberley Process minimum requirements," said State Department Spokesman PJ Crowley.
Last month, a meeting of the Kimberley Process in Tel Aviv failed to reach a decision on Zimbabwe even though a KP monitor said Zimbabwe met the minimum conditions for certification.
Some participants say the Kimberley Process can only deal with armed conflict and that does not apply to Zimbabwe. "They [the KP] have a specific definition for blood diamonds defined as diamonds being exploited by rebel groups to fuel conflicts. It was not designed to deal with state actors like it is in the case of Zimbabwe. So some people have already started to push for redefinition of blood diamonds," Bomba said.
Some say the international community should make an effort to understand the political reality of Zimbabwe and engage with its leaders.
"Let's not get caught up in the false polarities that characterize Zimbabwe discussions where it's Mugabe mania or Mugabe phobia. The challenge is how we break an objective path that brings back ordinary people to the center of discussion and how they are affected," Bomba said.
He fears that if the diamonds are sold in the black market, without KP certification, it will be difficult to monitor the revenue from those diamonds which should directly benefit the people of Zimbabwe, not a few corporations or government officials.
Israeli Diamond: World Diamond Congress: IDC Releases Code in Russian
[pic]14.07.10, 08:40 / World [pic]
The International Diamond Council (IDC) has released a special edition Russian translation of the "IDC Rules for Grading Diamonds" on occasion of the 34th World Diamond Congress.
IDC Chairman Stephane Fischler presented a bound copy of the Russian language version of the IDC Rules to Sergey Oulin, Chairman of the Diamond Chamber of Russia, and host of the congress.
Fischler noted that the distribution of the IDC Rules in other languages, in addition to the authoritative English version, "Would make a significant contribution toward the proliferation of a single, authoritative, international set of diamond nomenclature in markets that until recently had had little or no access to the information and therefore could not be shared with consumers.
"This indeed is the core mission of the IDC: a globally accepted, clear and transparent grading nomenclature, to secure and enhance consumer confidence in polished diamonds," Fischler stated.
Fischler added that the Chinese translation was published in June, as the first of a series of translations that IDC aims to make available: "We are now looking at translating the rules in other languages such Japanese, Spanish, Arabic, Portuguese, Italian and French."
Fischler called upon the delegates of the WFDB and IDMA to support the creation of additional translation projects. "You are in an ideal position to assist in creating translations and your members will the first to enjoy the immediate benefit of having the rules available in their own languages," he said.
The IDC Rules and the translations in Russian and Chinese are now available for downloading from the IDC website.
RIA: Russian-Latvian ties strengthen - Latvian PM
03:00 14/07/2010
Relations between Russia and Latvia have shown progress lately, which will result in several intergovernmental agreements to be signed soon, Latvian Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis has said.
"We see that the intensity of contacts between Latvia and Russia has increased. [Our] relations have become more constructive," he said.
"We hope to sign a number of agreements with Russia. Among them are agreements on avoiding double taxation, on cooperation in the tourism sphere, and on fighting organized crime," Dombrovskis said. He said the agreements could be signed during Latvian President Valdis Zatlers's visit to Russia.
During a short visit to Latvia on July 9, the head of the Russian presidential administration, Sergei Naryshkin, invited Zatlers to visit Russia on behalf of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. The date of the visit is now being discussed.
Dombrovskis said developing economic cooperation with Russia was also "in our interests."
Russia has long been at odds with the Baltic states of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia over perceived attempts to rewrite the history of World War II and diminish the Soviet role in the defeat of Nazi Germany.
While Russia maintains that the Red Army liberated the Baltic states from German invaders, many residents of the republics put the two "occupations" on a par.
RIGA, July 14 (RIA Novosti)
Interfax: Moldova asks Constitutional Court to motivate ruling on 'Soviet Occupation Day'
Today at 09:23 | Interfax-Ukraine
Moldovan parliamentary speaker and acting President Mihai Ghimpu has asked the Constitutional Court to motivate its decision to invalidate his decree declaring June 28 Soviet Occupation Day.
"The Constitutional Court has declared the decree unconstitutional, reasoning that the decree contains an attempt to legally judge historical events. However, the Constitutional Court has no right to analyze the decree's political or legal aspects but only has to judge its compliance with the constitution. I want to see exactly where in the constitution it has been violated," Ghimpu told journalists on Tuesday.
The Constitutional Court has so far made public only its findings but has not yet provided the motives for the ruling, Ghimpu said.
Prof. Alexandru Arseni, a Moldovan expert on constitutional law, told journalists that a Constitutional Court ruling takes effect on the day of its publication in the Monitorul Oficial, an official publication, which the court has to do within 15 days. "The Constitutional Court's ruling is final and cannot be appealed," he said.
Arseni insisted, however, that the people have the right to know the reasons for which the decree was ruled as unconstitutional.
"The court ruling was shocking to me, and it is political. In my view, it was not constitutional and not legal but political. The court exceeded its constitutional competence. What is surprising is that it did not cite any motives and any references to articles of the constitution that were violated," he said.
The Moldovan Constitutional Court on Monday ruled as unconstitutional Ghimpu's decree declaring June 28 "the day of the Soviet occupation of Bessarabia." In response to this, the acting president said he intended to go to the Constitutional Court to appeal a 2002 decree by which then President Vladimir Voronin declared a day of commemoration of victims of fascism and condemnation of fascism in Moldova.
Read more:
13 July 2010
Lat updated at 23:24 GMT
BBC: Georgia and Russia do business despite tense relations
By Konstantin Rozhnov Business reporter, BBC News
Russia and Georgia may have severed diplomatic ties as a result of the armed conflict over South Ossetia in 2008, but when it comes to business dealings the two sides often choose a more pragmatic approach. Russia's ban on the imports of Georgian wines, introduced several years ago, and a lack of regular direct flights between the two countries have been well publicised.
However - despite many Georgians being sure that Moscow would use any opportunity, including business pressure, to significantly expand its influence in the region - many Russian companies have been operating in Georgia throughout this tense period.
This forms the backdrop to a tense debate in the Georgian parliament about a proposal to re-write the list of state properties that cannot be sold.
According to a draft law, approved by the parliament in first of three readings, a transit pipeline that carries Russian gas to Armenia through Georgia could be privatised.
Russia's gas monopoly Gazprom is seen as the only potential investor interested in and capable of buying a significant stake in the pipeline.
'Politically motivated'
In recent years, there have been several gas conflicts between Russian energy companies and their counterparts in neighbouring countries.
Moscow insists the disputes have all been about business, while critics accuse Russia of using its energy supplier status as a political tool.
"The most worrying thing is that under Russian law Gazprom has a right to protect its interests, including the use of military force outside Russia," Nodar Khaduri, an economics professor at the Tbilisi State University, told the BBC Russian Service.
Georgian economist Gia Khukhashvili believes that the pipeline is not commercially viable and it could be bought only by "a politically motivated investor, which Gazprom is".
But Andrei Suzdaltsev of the world economy and international affairs department at the Higher School of Economics in Moscow says that from the business point of view Gazprom would be interested in acquiring the pipeline, as it carries its gas to an important market.
Besides, he told the BBC, Russia has proved many times that it separates business from politics when dealing with Georgia.
Liberal market
Indeed, Telasi, an electricity distribution company of the Georgian capital of Tbilisi, is controlled by the Russian company Inter RAO UES.
Even during the war two years ago it did not stop supplying the region with electricity.
Also, only a few months after the conflict, Inter RAO UES and the Georgian government agreed to work towards collaborating in managing the Inguri hydropower plant on the border with the breakaway territory of Abkhazia.
Among other Russian companies doing business in Georgia are Itera, which owns several regional gas distribution companies there, VTB Bank and mobile operator VimpelCom.
Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili said last year: "We are not going to hinder Russian companies from coming to Georgia.
"The more business interest we get, the less political pressure there will be," he told Bloomberg.
Mr Suzdaltsev agrees that Georgia is now "an oasis of liberalism" in terms of doing business among former Soviet republics.
He believes, however, that there are no guarantees that Russian investment in Georgia will be protected from government interference in the future.
'Economic interests'
When discussing the future of the gas pipeline from Russia to Armenia, opposition MPs in the Georgian parliament say the country would face an "energetic and economic threat" if a Russian company was to buy the pipeline.
They demand guarantees at the legislative level that the Georgian government would retain a controlling stake.
No such guarantees have been included in the draft legislation so far, although a member of the parliament majority, Pavle Kubashvili, says the pipeline "will not be sold to the Russian Federation".
"We approach this issue from the economic point of view, because such facilities are better managed by private companies," he says.
This is not the first time there are talks about selling the pipeline to Gazprom. Five years ago, such discussions were held.
But instead Georgia and the US signed a five-year agreement, under which Tbilisi was given money to modernise the pipeline, while Georgia promised not to sell it until the deal expires in April 2011.
When the draft law authorising privatisation of the pipeline was discussed in first reading in the parliament, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was visiting Georgia.
There have been no reports that the topic of the pipeline was raised at her talks with Mr Saakashvili, however.
Meanwhile, the overwhelming majority of the Georgian MPs voted in favour of the draft legislation.
If the support does not disappear in the final two readings after consultations between the parliament and the government, it could mean that this time Russian business would be able to further advance into Georgia.
RUSSIA-US SPY PROBE
Itar-Tass: Another RF citizen deported from US in connection with spy scandal
14.07.2010, 06.04
WASHINGTON, July 14 (Itar-Tass) - Russia’s citizen who was mentioned by American security services in connection with the recent “spy scandal” between Washington and Moscow, on Tuesday was deported from the United States by decision of the immigration court, spokesman for the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Matt Chandler told Itar-Tass.
According to him, the deported man’s name is Alexei Karetnikov. The decision on his deportation to his motherland was made by the court earlier on the same day. Chandler said he could confirm that the ruling of the judge on the deportation of the Russian was fulfilled.
According to US competent bodies, the Russian who was forced to leave the American territory had entered the United States last October.
The official explained that the ruling on the deportation of the Russian citizen was made by the immigration judge based on a reached agreement. Under the agreement terms, Mr Karetnikov admitted that he was staying in the United States in violation of the immigration law and voluntarily agreed to deportation instead of further judicial procedures. Mr Karetnikov will face criminal and civil prosecution if he returns to the United States without a special permission of the American government, the DHS spokesman specified.
He did not give any other details of this case.
LA Times: Another Russian deported in connection with spy ring
A 12th person whose name surfaced during the federal investigation of the agents was sent back to Russia under an agreement in which he will not face any criminal charges.
By Richard A. Serrano, Tribune Washington Bureau
July 14, 2010
Reporting from Washington —
A 12th Russian whose name surfaced last fall as part of a federal investigation into a Moscow spy network in the United States was deported to his home country Tuesday after federal investigators determined that he had not committed any crimes during his nine-month stay here.
Alexey Karetnikov, a 23-year-old Russian citizen who was living in Seattle, was taken into U.S. custody June 28. The FBI's investigation led to a series of arrests last month in New York, New Jersey and Virginia. On Monday, a federal immigration judge ordered Karetnikov deported.
U.S. officials said Karetnikov "would face criminal and civil penalties if he returned without express U.S. government permission."
Justice Department officials said Karetnikov was not "charged with any criminal violation" in connection with the other agents, and that the intent all along was to deport Karetnikov once the others were prosecuted and deported.
"We investigated thoroughly, and if we had been able to prosecute the individual, we would have," said a federal law enforcement official.
Matt Chandler, a Department of Homeland Security spokesman, said that as part of the decision to deport Karetnikov without the filing of criminal charges, "Mr. Karetnikov admitted that he was present in the United States in violation of immigration law and voluntarily agreed to deportation in lieu of further court proceedings."
Karetnikov came to the U.S. in October, in contrast to some of the others who arrived here years ago and set up new families and lifestyles.
Last week, 10 Russian operatives abruptly pleaded guilty in federal court in New York to a charge of failing to register as foreign agents. They were deported to Moscow, in return for the Russian Federation's release of four longtime prisoners who admitted they had spied against Russia. Two of the four were taken to England, the other two to the United States.
An 11th operative, identified as Christopher R. Metsos, the alleged "paymaster" of the operation, was briefly held and released by police in Cyprus. He has since disappeared.
Earlier this week, in his first extensive public comments on the matter, Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr. said that federal authorities broke up the spy ring and arrested the first 10 individuals because the husband of one of the members was in the process of traveling to France, and then on to Russia.
"The concern was that, if we let him go, we would not be able to get him back," Holder said.
richard.serrano@
RIA: U.S. deports Russian in aftermath of spy scandal
03:34 14/07/2010
U.S. authorities have deported a Russian man on charges of violating U.S. immigration laws, which, according to U.S. media reports, is linked to a recent spy scandal between Russia and the United States.
Spokesman for the U.S. Homeland Security Department Matt Chandler told RIA Novosti that a court ruling to deport Alexey Karetnikov was made on July 12.
Chandler said the man agreed to be deported, adding that he would face criminal charges if he tried to return to the United States.
The announcement comes just days after a spy scandal between Russia and the United States ended with a swap deal. Russia pardoned and released on Friday four prisoners jailed for spying activities against Russia in exchange for ten people recently accused by the United States of spying for Russia.
Earlier, the Wall Street Journal quoted an unidentified U.S. official familiar with the matter as saying that the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation had been investigating the 23-year-old alleged Russian agent since last fall. His name then emerged in a decade-long espionage investigation that resulted in the recent detention of the 10 Russian "spies," the paper said.
The Wall Street Journal did not specify the man's name. According to the paper, he obtained a U.S. visa in August 2009.
No charges of spying on behalf of Russia were brought against the 23-year-old, the paper said.
WASHINGTON, July 14 (RIA Novosti)
RIA: Russian citizen deported from U.S. was Microsoft employee - media
06:50 14/07/2010
A Russian citizen deported from the Untied States in the aftermath of the recent U.S.-Russian spy scandal had been living outside Seattle and working for Microsoft, the Komo News Seattle TV channel said.
Alexey Karetnikov, 23, was deported to Russia on Tuesday on charges of violating U.S. immigration laws, according to Matthew Chandler, a spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security.
Chandler said Karetnikov had admitted the charges and "agreed to deportation in lieu of further court proceedings."
The TV channel said on its website that the man had been living in the town of Redmond, to the east of Seattle.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Karetnikov obtained a U.S. visa in August 2009. Microsoft confirmed Karetnikov had been working as an entry-level software tester for less than a year, Komo News Seattle said.
Karetnikov's Facebook page says he graduated from Russia's St. Petersburg State Polytechnic University in 2009.
Karetnikov was deported in a spy swap deal following a spy scandal between Russia and the United States. Russia pardoned and released on Friday four prisoners jailed for spying activities against Russia in exchange for ten people recently accused by the United States of spying for Russia.
No charges of spying on behalf of Russia were brought against the 23-year-old because of insufficient evidence, but U.S. media reports said his name emerged in a decade-long espionage investigation that resulted in the detention of the 10 Russian "spies."
WASHINGTON, July 14 (RIA Novosti)
Bloomberg: Microsoft Says 12th Alleged Russian Spy Was Employee in Redmond
By Anastasia Ustinova and Brad Cook
July 14 (Bloomberg) -- Microsoft Corp. said the 12th alleged member of a Russian spy ring operating in the U.S. was an employee at the company’s Redmond, Washington, headquarters.
The man, a Russian citizen in his early 20s named Alexey Karetnikov, worked for Microsoft as a software tester for about nine months, Lyudmila Shuinova, a spokeswoman for Microsoft in Moscow, said by e-mail today. Russia’s foreign ministry declined to comment on the news when contacted by Bloomberg.
Ten members of the spy ring pleaded guilty to conspiring to serve as unregistered foreign agents June 8 in a U.S. federal court in Manhattan. They admitted to carrying money or coded messages, secretly communicating with Russian officials and instructing others on how to find information useful to Russia. Their objective was to infiltrate U.S. policy-making circles after constructing false American identities, prosecutors said.
Strategic Forecasting Inc. said yesterday another member of the ring tried to get the risk advisory group to install software he said his company had developed.
A man calling himself Donald Heathfield held five meetings with an employee of Austin, Texas-based Stratfor in an effort to get the firm to use his program, Chief Executive Officer George Friedman said in an e-mailed report. Heathfield, who later identified himself as Andrey Bezrukov, was one of 10 people U.S. authorities traded for four Russians on July 9 in Vienna.
“We suspect that had this been done, our servers would be outputting to Moscow,” Friedman said. “We did not know at the time who he was. We have since reported the incident to the FBI.”
Deported
Bezrukov and his partner in the network were sentenced to time served and deported after agreeing to give up their home on Trowbridge Street in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and all the funds in four bank accounts. Bezrukov’s partner, who was identified as Tracey Foley at the time of her arrest, told the court her real name was Elena Vavilova.
Bezrukov, Vavilova and the other members of the spy ring are being debriefed at a facility on the Foreign Intelligence Service’s compound in the Yasenevo region of Moscow, Moskovsky Komsomolets, Russia’s second-biggest newspaper by circulation, reported today, citing unidentified Russian security officials. That process may last weeks, the Moscow-based daily said.
Some of the 10 agents may continue to work with the security service, while others will be free to pursue new careers, Moskovsky Komsomolets said.
To contact the reporters on this story: Anastasia Ustinova in St. Petersburg at austinova@; Brad Cook in Moscow at Bcook7@
Last Updated: July 14, 2010 03:07 EDT
TechFlash: 12th Russian spy worked at Microsoft
Eric Engleman on Tuesday, July 13, 2010, 8:57pm PDT
The Russian spy scandal is rippling through the Seattle technology community. News reports indicate an alleged 12th Russian spy, identified as Alexey Karetnikov, worked at Microsoft and lived in Redmond. Karetnikov, who is said to be in his early 20s, was deported to Russia.
Karetnikov reportedly entered the U.S. in October. Microsoft spokesman Lou Gellos confirmed to the Washington Post that Karetnikov worked at the company for nine months as a software tester, but gave no further details. Karetnikov was reportedly taken into custody June 28 and held on immigration violations before being deported.
A Facebook page for an Alexey Karetnikov lists his current city as Redmond and gives his employers as Microsoft and a company called Neobit.
This is the second time the Seattle tech community has had a brush with the Russian spy scandal. It earlier emerged that one of the alleged spies, known as Tracey Foley, worked as a contract field agent for Seattle online real estate company Redfin. Foley, who lived in the Boston area, was later identified by U.S. authorities as Elena Vavilova.
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Georgian Daily: Spy Scandal Points to Broader ‘Systematic Crisis’ in SVR, Moscow Experts Say
July 13, 2010
Paul Goble
Vienna, July 13 – The recent spy scandal in which the US arrested ten illegals and then exchanged them for four people held by Moscow calls attention to “a systematic crisis” in the work of the Russian foreign intelligence service, the SVR, a crisis that two leading Russian specialists on intelligence point out has its roots in Soviet times.
In an article in yesterday’s “Yezhednevny zhurnal,” Andrey Soldatov and Irina Borogan, who edit the authoritative Agentura.ru portal on intelligence activities, argue that “the scandalous resolution of the history with the illegals in America does not give answers to a single key question in this affair (ej.ru/?a=note&id=10242).
Instead, the rapidity with which the case was wrapped up by both sides suggests that neither the Americans nor the Russians were interested in having many aspects of the case ventilated in the media or examined by the expert community, something that in itself, the two specialists say, is revealing
Although some American commentators stressed that the current case represented a recurrence of the events of the Cold War, for the US, that was definitely not the case. During the Cold War, illegals were viewed as being more about “the moral dissolution” of the West than about real spying.
But for Russia and especially the SVR, the parallels with the Cold War past are more significant because in many ways the current use of illegals is “evidence of a systemic crisis [in the Russian intelligence services, a crisis] which has Soviet roots” and which Moscow seems powerless to overcome.
Soldatov and Borogan point out that “the Soviet and now the Russian intelligence services are famous for two unique things: it has its own higher educational institution with a complete profile, and its uses illegals,” something that neither Britain’s MI-6 or the US Central Intelligence Agency has done.
“The reason why Soviet and Russian intelligence teach their employees in a specialized academy and use illegals,” Soldatov and Borogan say, is the same: the best days of our spies were the epoch of the intelligence activities of the Comintern of the 1930s and 1940s,” a unique period with features that no longer exist.
Initially, “Soviet Russia could count on the support of communists [in other countries] with superior education and ties throughout the entire world. After Stalin destroyed [many of them during the purges], the country’s intelligence services had to create a special education institution in order somehow to prepare yesterday’s peasants for a new life.”
That didn’t always work, the two experts note. But “the dispatch of illegals corresponded to the same goal – this was an act of despair and a largely unsuccessful attempt to replace the Komintern people [Stalin had liquidated in the purges] with home-grown cadres” who could somehow try to fill their shoes.
But in subsequent decades, “the very largest successes of Soviet intelligence in the US” came not from the work of illegals but from the recruitment of people like Ames and Hansen. But the current case shows, Soldatov and Borogan say, that “in the SVR, up to now, its employees are not able to turn away” from the assumptions and traditions of the past.
If one assumes, however, that there is a rational core even to an effort which seldom generates much real intelligence, the two experts say, then one is compelled to assume that the SVR has other goals. And the way in which the exchange of agents took place suggests just such a conclusion.
On the one hand, the two Moscow experts say, running such an operation is a useful means for Moscow to test American counter-intelligence. And on the other, the nature of the exchange appears to serve a larger purpose, discrediting Igor Sutyagin, one of those prisoners Moscow released, and even more casting doubt on those rights activists who supported him.
Given that Moscow’s intelligence operations have traditionally been designed to bring the center benefits even if these actions appear to fail, such a conclusion is more than reasonable, Soldatov and Borogan suggest. But they note that there has been one major change in Russia that makes such an approach more difficult.
A generation ago, Soviet citizens could not raise questions about whether the KGB or the GRU had made a mistake, but now there is a chance that Russian society will raise such questions about the SVR. At the very least, Soldatov and Borogan believe that such questions are needed.
Whether such questions will be raised and how, if raised, they will be answered may ultimately matter more, the two suggest, than what has happened in this case so far, but they imply that all too many people are likely to assume that this Russian operation is over rather than part of a much bigger play with longer-term consequences.
RIA: Russia's Federation Council to discuss total drink driving ban
07:22 14/07/2010
The upper house of the Russian parliament, the Federation Council, will discuss on Wednesday amendments to impose a total drink driving ban.
Current legislation allows drivers to get behind the wheel with a small content of alcohol in their blood.
Legislators want to enforce a blanket ban on drink driving to eliminate drink driving accidents, which are all too common in Russia.
The bill was approved by the lower house of Russia's parliament, the State Duma, earlier in July.
State Duma speaker Boris Gryzlov earlier said tougher punishments for drink driving, used in the past few years, including the suspension of drivers' licenses and penalties of up to 15 days in jail, had been effective. He said the number of car accidents caused by drink drivers decreased by 11% and the number of those killed in such accidents dropped 35% in the first five months of 2010.
MOSCOW, July 14 (RIA Novosti)
AFP: HIV: Top medical journal blasts Russia over drug users
(AFP) – 17 hours ago
PARIS — Russia could more than halve its rates of new HIV infections by ending criminalisation of intravenous drug users, experts said in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) on Wednesday.
In an analysis published ahead of the International AIDS Conference, the experts said Russia's strict laws on drug use had helped fan its HIV/AIDS epidemic.
Research shows that the risk of HIV infection can be slashed by substituting heroin and other illegal opiates with a safer, legal drug and encouraging addicts to swap dirty needles for sterile ones, they said.
Twenty-two pilot programmes supported by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria have prevented 37,000 HIV infections, they reported.
In Russia's case, the country could cut its HIV rates by up to 55 percent if it implemented these policies, according to a mathematical model presented in the article.
At present, Russia prohibits opioid substitution and has only 75 needle-exchange programmes for an estimated two million injecting drug users, around a third of whom are thought to have the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).
"Our projections suggest that Russia could substantially reduce the incidence of HIV infection if it permitted the use of opioid substitution treatment," says the analysis headed by Tim Rhodes, a professor of public health sociology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
"The benefits could be even greater than we estimate, as the model does not include changes in offending, or in antiretroviral HIV treatment."
The six-day 18th International AIDS Conference opens in Vienna on Sunday, with the spotlight placed on the HIV epidemic unfurling in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet states.
Intravenous drug use is a well-known accelerator of HIV, through sharing syringes contaminated with the virus and through prostitution, as infected addicts turn to sex work to get money for their habit.
According to a 2008 study in The Lancet, 16 million people around the world inject drugs, three million of whom live in Eastern Europe. After Russia, Ukraine has the highest number of drug injectors in the region, a tally estimated at 290,000, the BMJ said.
Supporters of so-called harm reduction programmes say that drug users have a better chance of weaning themselves off this high-risk behaviour if they are given support and not forced into a life of illegality.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) classifies opiate substitutes as an "essential medicine." Two substitutes, methadone and buprenorphine, are prescribed to more than 650,000 in Europe.
RBC: The President of Bashkortostan has announced his resignation for tomorrow
GOOGLE TRANSLATION
On Thursday scheduled an extraordinary meeting of the State Assembly of Bashkortostan, where the head region, Murtaza Rakhimov, has announced his resignation. Writes today's "Kommersant".
In the near future MPs should enact a law providing guarantees, including immunity, the former president. In addition, Rakhimov, according to the newspaper, will be able to propose candidates for future presidents.
"In fact, State Assembly tomorrow learns about care Murtaza Rakhimov", - assured the United Russia Duma deputy Andrei Nazarov, who was elected in 2007. the list of United Russia in the number of Bashkir group of candidates.
Source in the presidential administration of Bashkortostan considers "wrong" to say that Rakhimov "leave voluntarily". According to him, on Monday in the Kremlin went 3-hour meeting the head of administration of Russian president Sergei Naryshkin and Murtaza Rakhimov. "The meeting took place very nervous - says the source. - In the end, Mr Rakhimov wrote a letter of resignation and left it in the administration." "Rakhimov was not invited to any federal office, he was asked simply to retire," - says a source in the presidential administration.
Rakhimov was elected the first President of the Republic of Bashkortostan on December 12 1993. During his first term in power was signed between Russia and Bashkortostan on the delimitation of powers between the federal and regional authorities.
Double-Bashkir leader was re-elected, and 10 October 2006. Members of Parliament Rakhimov in Bashkortostan have given the president's powers to the new 5-year term.
Earlier, his office left one more regional political heavyweight, President of the Republic of Tatarstan Mintimer Shaimiev. Region headed by former Prime Minister of Tatarstan Rustam Minnikhanov. For M. Shaimiev has created a new position - he became a state adviser of Tatarstan.
14 July 2010.
Moscow Times: Bashkortostan's Rakhimov to Bow Out
14 July 2010
By Natalya Krainova
A Kremlin bid to bring new blood to regional leadership scored an important win Tuesday as two presidents, Bashkortostan's Murtaza Rakhimov and Chuvashia's Nikolai Fyodorov, announced that they would resign after their terms expire.
United Russia immediately named three candidates for Chuvashia, as well as for Karelia, a position that opened up with the incumbent leader's resignation last month.
But Rakhimov, 76, who is often accused of ruling oil-rich Bashkortostan with an iron fist, is immersed in talks about his successor with the Kremlin, according to a statement on his web site.
President Dmitry Medvedev suggested limiting regional bosses to three terms after appointing scandal-tainted Primorye Governor Sergei Darkin for a third term in January.
A number of old-guard governors have been dismissed since late last year, with most failing to influence the choice of their replacement.
In case of Fyodorov, whose fourth term in Chuvashia expires in August, his removal may be only a prelude to career advancement.
Fyodorov, 52, is respected by the Kremlin and may become the presidential envoy to the Siberian or Volga federal district, Vedomosti reported Tuesday, citing a senior United Russia official who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Rakhimov's situation is more complex, as evidenced by the fact that he is discussing possible replacements with Kremlin chief of staff Sergei Naryshkin even though his fourth term expires only in October 2011, the statement on Rakhimov's web site said.
Rakhimov may get an honorary sinecure, and the Kremlin is likely to replace him with a member of the local elite, not an outsider, said Rostislav Turovsky, an independent regional analyst.
Such a tact would prevent backlash against major companies with a strong presence in the republic, he said. State-owned or state-friendly companies such as Gazprom and billionaire Vladimir Yevtushenkov's Sistema control the republic's key oil, energy and metals industries, Turovsky said.
"Nothing radical can happen in the republic's economy," he said. "Rakhimov's successor will inevitably have connections in the republic."
Rakhimov's replacement will have to come from the regional elite because the federal authorities do not want a redistribution of property, said Alexei Mukhin, an analyst with the Center for Political Information.
He also said Moscow may hand Bashkortostan's reins to a person connected to Sistema, which already has a strong position in the region after gaining control of the republic's main oil producer, Bashneft, as well as three refineries, a petrochemicals plant and an oil trader in spring 2009.
But analysts were divided as to whether Rakhimov would have a say about his successor.
Mukhin doubted it, saying Rakhimov had fallen out of the Kremlin's favor after criticizing United Russia for monopolizing power.
"Rakhimov doesn't have the least bit of support on the federal level," Mukhin said.
But Turovsky said the fact that successor talks are public knowledge and have started a year before Rakhimov's departure means that the incumbent has a chance to influence the outcome.
With Rakhimov's departure, all eyes will be on Moscow's veteran mayor, Yury Luzhkov, who is winding up his fourth term. Luzhkov has insisted that he has no plans to leave.
Meanwhile, United Russia has sent Medvedev lists of candidates to head Karelia and Chuvashia, the party said in a statement Tuesday.
These lists spelled no drastic change in staffing policy, being comprised of senior officials from the two regions and a low-profile State Duma deputy.
Candidates for Chuvashia are its prime minister, Nina Suslonova; agricultural minister, Mikhail Ignatyev; and Ruslan Tikhonov, the presidential envoy's representative in the region.
For Karelia, the party proposed acting regional head Andrei Nelidov, prime minister Pavel Chernov and Duma Deputy Viktor Kidyayev.
Karelia's previous head, Sergei Katanandov, resigned last month for unspecified personal reasons after serving three terms.
Other leaders who left their jobs in recent months include Sverdlovsk Governor Eduard Rossel, Tatarstan President Mintimer Shaimiyev, Khanty-Mansiisk Governor Alexander Filippenko and Rostov Governor Vladimir Chub.
Only Shaimiyev manage to negotiate a successor, his prime minister, with the Kremlin.
Russia Today/Gazeta.ru: Rakhimov is leaving voluntarily
Elizaveta Surnachaeva
The result of Murtaza Rakhimov’s talks in Moscow was an early resignation statement, signed by the head of Bashkiria. He may announce his resignation as early as within the next two days at an inter-sessional regional parliamentary meeting.
The presidential administration of Bashkiria had officially announced that consultations on possible candidates for the post of the next governor of the republic have begun. On the early morning of July 13, the official website of the president published information on the recent meeting between Murtaza Rakhimov and head of the Presidential Administration of Russia, Sergey Naryshkin.
Read more
Rakhimov met with Naryshkin twice on Monday, say Gazeta.Ru’s sources from the inner circle of the head of Bashkiria. Between the morning and the evening meetings, he traveled to the government offices to attend a State Council Presidium meeting, which focused on the ongoing drought.
Later, Rakhimov was seen in the reception room of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin in anticipation of a face-to-face meeting, but it is unknown whether or not he was able to meet the head of the government. Putin’s press secretary, Dmitry Peskov, told Gazeta.Ru that the prime minister did not meet with Rakhimov.
Rakhimov also tried meeting with President Dmitry Medvedev, say sources familiar with the situation. In the Kremlin, Gazeta.Ru was told that a meeting with Rakhimov is not on the president’s schedule nor is it planned. Further, by the evening of July 13 Rakhimov had retuned to Ufa, Gazeta.Ru learned from Sergey Lavrentyev, advisor to the head of Bashkiria.
“Considering the stable character of the political situation and the many times Rakhimov expressed his intent not to remain as the head of the region for the next term, in accordance with earlier agreements, a consultation process has begun,” reports Rakhimov’s press service. The statement does not include the announcement of Rakhimov’s plan for an early resignation.
Rakhimov has already signed an early resignation statement voluntarily, said Gazeta.Ru’s interlocutor from Rakhimov’s inner circle. It was agreed that he would be the one to announce his early resignation.
The announcement about the early retirement of the oldest regional leader could be made as early as July 15 at an inter-sessional meeting of the regional State Council, said a source close to the negotiations. Officially, the Kurultai meeting was devoted to the results of the State Council Presidium meeting on issues concerning the drought. “The drought will be discussed, and nothing more. No other topics are on the agenda,” said Lavrentyev. Prime Minister Rail Sarbaev will be present at the Kurultai meeting, added the official.
Ilyumzhinov is on the same track
There is a possibility that early retirement awaits the President of Kalmykia, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, as well. His resignation is currently being discussed, says a source close to the United Russia Party; the envoy to the Southern Federal District has been advised not to take any time off in the near future. The Kremlin issued the same instructions to the envoy of the Volga Federal District, which Bashkiria is part of.
A source close to Ilyumzhinov refused to comment on Ilyumzhinov’s possible early resignation and stressed that the president of Kalmykia had previously expressed his willingness to remain in his post for another term, as well as to agree with a decision of the federal center to appoint a new head of the region. According to the interlocutor, Ilyumzhinov is currently in Peru.
Read the article on the newspaper's website (in Russian)
Telegraph: Russian police officer hits back at Hermitage
A Moscow policeman has hit back at claims he took part in the biggest tax fraud in Russian history, claiming to have been libelled by William Browder’s Hermitage Capital Management.
By Andrew Osborn in Moscow and Philip Aldrick
Published: 6:45AM BST 14 Jul 2010
Hermitage, once the biggest portfolio investor in Russia, has accused Pavel Karpov, a 32-year-old police investigator, of being part of a gang of corrupt policemen who allegedly defrauded the Russian state of $230m (£153m) using two stolen subsidiaries of the hedge fund.
It claims he was then complicit in a cover-up that led to the agonising death in prison of Hermitage’s lawyer, Sergei Magnitsky, in November 2009.
Mr Magnitsky’s former boss, Jamison Firestone, has released a hard-hitting video on YouTube purporting to show that Mr Karpov, whose official monthly salary is about $500, has spent $1.3m on luxury homes, cars and foreign holidays since the fraud was perpetrated.
Mr Karpov has filed a complaint with Russia’s Prosecutor General, Yury Chaika, asking him to open criminal cases against Mr Browder, Mr Firestone and another lawyer.
In the filing, he claims Mr Browder has used “his financial resources” to wage a slanderous campaign against him and other policemen via local and international media.
“The only person who stood to gain from the death of Sergei Magnitsky was William Browder himself,” Mr Karpov is reported to have alleged.
He also suggested that Hermitage pulled off the tax fraud itself.
Mr Browder described Mr Karpov’s claims as “absurd”.
He added: “It is a hugely cynical move for the man who Sergei testified against to turn round and put the blame for the fraud on Sergei and other victims after Sergei was tortured to death.”
July 13, 2010
Russia Profile: Bracing for Impact
By Tom Balmforth
Russia Profile
The Authorities May Be Bracing Themselves for Handling a Disgruntled Russian Society When Government Handouts Run Dry
Last week the State Duma moved closer to curbing freedom of assembly and expanding the powers of Russia’s security services, and analysts anticipate a general government crackdown. The opposition is already talking about the 2011 State Duma elections and Eduard Limonov over the weekend founded his Other Russia Party, to open up a “second front” against the authorities. Limonov’s party or the more mainstream opposition is currently nowhere close to scoring any political victories, but polls do indicate that the ruling party’s leaders are losing sway. Moreover, the Kremlin is soon due to implement tough measures, including its planned budget reform, and the clampdown could indicate that the authorities are getting ready for unrest.
On Friday Russia’s State Duma moved to toughen up legislation against would-be protestors, and the opposition criticized another blow to the freedom of assembly. The new bill, passed in its first reading, would ban those with a criminal record – of any gravity, including the most minor of offenses – from organizing rallies. It also bans people from advertising any rallies whatsoever – whether the demonstration’s time, place, or topic – until they are given the official go-ahead from the authorities. The bill’s next reading has not been scheduled yet.
For numerous groups, including sexual minorities and the “Strategy 31” opposition movement, which gathers in defense of the freedom of assembly (enshrined in Article 31 of the Russian Constitution) this bill effectively rules out rallies altogether, as their demonstrations are never sanctioned by the government.
The bill was passed by 312 out of 448 deputies in the State Duma (only two deputies were absent out of 450 seats, possibly due to recent outrage at the large-scale absenteeism in the Lower House of Parliament). According to United Russia, the bill is necessary to contain extremist political opposition. “Most importantly, this law will work against those who organize rallies and meetings not to send a message to the voters, but in order to violate the law,” said Sergei Markov, a key ideologist and deputy for United Russia. “This law should work against radicals.”
Nonetheless, the other three fractions, including the Communist Party, the Liberal Democratic Party and Just Russia, all voted against. Asked to clarify what kind of “radicals” he meant, Markov said “different rightists, leftists, everybody – the radical opposition, but it will not influence the normal political opposition. As we know, for example, the communists have organized a dramatic number of rallies already, but because they violate no laws it will not touch them.”
The bill has caused a stir among the opposition, which is already seeing the measure as part of a wave of repressive legislation. “This is another anti-democratic offensive,” said Sergei Mitrokhin, the head of the opposition Yabloko Party. “This is a defeat for human rights. That means this bill should be viewed together with the amendments to the FSB laws, which increase the authority of FSB officers.”
On Friday, all but four United Russia Duma deputies passed amendments to FSB legislation in their second reading, which will allow Russia’s security services to preemptively impose fines and warnings to would-be lawbreakers without even having to first seek court approval. This second reading version has already been dumbed down from its first, even tougher reading. On July 9 six Yabloko members were arrested for handcuffing themselves to fences outside the Duma in protest. The final reading is scheduled for July 16.
“This is another tightening of the screws of society. The authorities are scared of society, and are preparing offensive measures against it,” said Mitrokhin. Polls suggest that the popularity of the authorities is dipping post-crisis. Only 27 percent of Russians said that some situations require a “strong hand” in politics, whereas between 40 and 45 percent thought the same during the economic heyday of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s Russia, a Levada Center poll conducted last week found. Fifty-two percent still said that it was beneficial for Russia that “practically all power in Russia is currently concentrated in the hands of Vladimir Putin,” although this percentage too is an all-time low.
However realistically, the opposition is optimistic about the future. “Today there is a different political climate than there was in 2007. Then the mood in society did not favor the opposition. Today people are tired of the authorities, of its methods and of the lack of prospects,” Kommersant quoted opposition leader Eduard Limonov as saying.
On Saturday, Limonov founded the Other Russia opposition party and its founding members then unanimously elected Eduard Limonov as their leader. Limonov says that the aim of the party is to open a “second front” against the authorities, with the ultimate goal of success at the State Duma elections slated for 2011, even though the party envisages problems with the adverse registration process, Kommersant reported. As the government moved to restrict the freedom to assembly on Friday, it potentially scored a victory over the first “front,” i.e. the opposition’s “Strategy 31” rallies.
Nikoloi Petrov, an analyst at Carnegie Moscow Center, said that he saw the current couple of bills being passed as part of a government crackdown. At the moment that clampdown is only noticeable in legislation, rather than in practice. “To my mind this is a clear trend,” said Petrov. “It means that the Kremlin is preparing itself for much worse times when they start to implement several reforms, such as the reform of the budgetary sphere.” The reform of the budgetary sphere is currently slated for January 2012, immediately after the December 2011 State Duma elections, although Petrov said there were rumors that the elections may be held earlier.
“It [the reform of the budgetary sphere] will cause a lot of problems, including social protests, because it’s a very large-scale reform. It’s about financing schools, hospitals and clinics and cutting off financial support from the state budget,” said Petrov. “The opposition doesn’t have any chance in the present-day environment, but it’s pretty rational to expect that this environment can change fundamentally, and pretty soon. Nobody knows if it will get a chance if there is large-scale political crisis.”
VOR: Mi-24 crashes in Dagestan
|Jul 14, 2010 10:24 Moscow Time |
An Mi-24 military helicopter has crashed into a mountain in Russia’s North Caucasus republic of Dagestan. No victims have been reported, all crew members safely ejected from the aircraft.
The incident took place Tuesday afternoon, an investigation is underway.
Russia-IC: New Submersible Tested in the Sea
14.07.2010
New Russian manned submersible “Consul”, designed for Russian Naval Forces, was recently tested in the Baltic sea.
The vehicle was designed and built at the “Yantar” (Amber) shipbuilding factory, located in the Russian city of Kaliningrad. After factory tests have been passed successfully, the vehicle is now getting ready for the state tests, Russian military officials say.
New manned submersible will be able to dive as deep as six thousand meters. After deep-water tests, scheduled for the end of 2010, finish, new deep-diving vehicle will be ready to serve the country.
Source: ITAR-TASS
Moscow News: Russian bailiffs have hunters in their sights
by Andy Potts at 14/07/2010 10:57
Fed up with repeated failure to pay up, Russia’s official repo men are planning to take a potshot at intransigent debtors.
Amid plans to toughen up their approach to persistent non-payers, the federal bailiff service is planning to take away hunting and fishing licenses.
Permits needed to pilot a boat could also be confiscated as the authorities look for alternative ways to persuade people to pay up.
The news comes as statistics show close to 250,000 people are banned from leaving Russia due to their unpaid debts, Noviye Izvestiya reports.
Strongarm tactics
Human rights groups were quick to protest, however, fearing that instead of targeting genuine non-payers the authorities were simply scurrying to fill a quota.
Noting that numbers had risen sharply in some regions – Oryol region, for example, saw a four-fold hike in travel restrictions – Pavel Chikov of the Agora organization asked: “The question arises, what do they really want: to stop as many Russian citizens as possible from travelling or to quickly recover the money?
“In fact it is about the development of another power structure which does not benefit society.”
However, he had some sympathy with the bailiffs in the face of the “creative” way people tried to duck their debts.
“Many times I’ve seen seminars about how to get another loan in the event of a claim for failure to pay,” he added.
Cash back
For the head of the bailiff service, Artur Parfenchikov, the figures speak for themselves.
In 2009 215,000 travel restrictions were imposed and 2 billion roubles ($6.5 million) was collected.
This year, he told Noviye Izvestiya, 100,000 travel orders had been dished out and the annual tally was set to top quarter of a million.
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14 июля 2010 года 11:59
Interfax: The Federation Council approved the law on insider information
GOOGLE TRANSLATION
Moscow. July 14. INTERFAX.RU - The Federation Council on Wednesday approved a law "On prevention of misuse of insider information and market manipulation, and on amendments to some legislative acts."
Law is aimed at ensuring the market pricing mechanism in the organized markets, to ensure their effective development and competitiveness. The adoption of the document will strengthen the confidence of both domestic and foreign investors.
The law defines a number of concepts: "insider information", "insiders", "market manipulation", "operations with financial instruments or commodities," the organizer of trade. "
VOR: Press review
Jul 14, 2010 11:19 Moscow Time
A meeting of ambassadors and special envoys to international organizations has ended in Moscow, Rossiyskaya Gazeta reports. The subject of the conference hosted by the Russian Foreign Ministry was “Russian Diplomacy: Protecting National Interests and Assisting Comprehensive Modernization of the Country”. In his speech, President Dmitry Medvedev called on those present to defy existing stereotypes. Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Andrei Nesterenko said the current situation offers broad prospects for deepening partner relations with other countries and integration alliances. Developing cooperation in G8, G20 and BRIC formats testify to a substantial increase in these structures’ significance amid the accelerating processes of global architecture transformation, the diplomat pointed out.
Highlighting the Russian State Council’s session on national food security, Kommersant daily writes that referring to food security as a strategic goal, President Dmitry Medvedev has called for Russia’s becoming a significant exporter of meat. He mentioned that some 10,000 tons of Russia-produced meat were exported to China and Vietnam in 2009, which may contribute to our country’s success in the international food market. “We must do everything necessary to reach this strategic goal, to create financial tools, infrastructure and a judicial base,” the President said, adding that complying with obligations within international organizations should also become one of the top priorities in this area.
More European gas companies are willing to take part in Russia's South Stream gas pipeline project, ignoring its rival the EU's Nabucco project, Gazeta newspaper notes. This year is decisive for Nabucco. The participants of the consortium should decide whether to get down to its construction or to postpone it. The main issue, which remains unsolved, is how to fill the pipe especially considering that Azerbaijan still fails to increase its gas production as it was planned. In terms of volumes of supplies the Russian project looks more beneficial than the European one.
The deputies of the State Duma (lower house of the Russian parliament) have come up with a new draft law obliging officials to report not only on their incomes and the incomes of their spouses and children but also on the incomes of their close relatives, Rossiiskaya Gazeta reports. According to the lawmakers, lack of control over the income of officials' relatives gives them an opportunity to make illegal income legal via them. They hope the new law would contribute to the fight against corruption in Russia and make the anti-corruption legislation more comprehensive and fair.
Scientists predict that in the next 30 years heat waves will become a usual thing, RBC-Daily reports. By 2039, this situation will pose a serious threat for agriculture and people's health increasing the number of draughts and fires. In 2009, the number of fires in Russia doubled in comparison with their number 15 years ago. For Central Russia scientists also predict waves of cold weather. The Earth climate is getting more and more unsteady. For countries with a mild climate the hot weather will be the main problem while Russia will have to cope with more severe frosts. It seems that with such forecasts scientists are preparing us for the situation we will have to face in 30 years and will have to cope with.
National Economic Trends
Reuters: Moody's may turn more positive on Russian banks
2:50am EDT
MOSCOW, July 14 (Reuters) - Moody's rating agency may raise its Russian banking sector outlook to 'stable' from 'negative' at the end of 2010, if banks return to pre-crisis creditworthiness levels, one of its analysts said on Wednesday.
"We will probably revise the forecast for the Russian banking system at the end of this year to 'stable'," said Eugene Tarzimanov.
The comment chimes in with expectations of an improvement in the sector towards the end of the yaer, as voiced by Moody's in March. [ID:nLDE62N0VO] (Reporting by Oksana Kobzeva; Writing by Toni Vorobyova)
Troika: Russian fiscal performance looks solid
Troika, Russia
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
The Finance Ministry reports that the budget deficit has narrowed from R491.3bn in 5m10 to R439.9bn in 1H10, implying that the budget was in surplus in June. Indeed, revenue collection soared from R663.4bn in May to R799.7bn in June, bringing the 6m10 tally to R3,995.4bn. The June uptick was largely due to quarterly installments coming from Central Bank profits and investment income from the Reserve Fund and National Wealth Fund, which together accounted for R188.4bn. Monthly expenditures were also higher in June (R776.3bn) than in May (R628.5bn), but this increase is quite usual, as spending normally soars in June and December.
The overall fiscal performance looks very solid and with more even monthly spending than in previous years, including rather sustainable revenue flows from oil and gas, as well as other sources. Given that revenues in 1H10 reached nearly R4 trln, the full year figure may easily exceed R8.5 trln, a bit higher than we expected earlier. That said, the recent amendment raising 2010 federal budget expenditures from R9.9 trln to R10.2 trln leaves the size of the expected deficit unchanged. We do not expect it to exceed R1.5 trln (unless more amendments are made later in the year), as all planned expenditures are unlikely to be allocated by year end, as has often happened in the past.
Evgeny Gavrilenkov
Russia Today: Russian farmers struggle against scorching heat
14 July, 2010, 08:48
Russia has been hit by the worst heat wave in the past 40 years, meteorologists say. Drought has scorched more than 20 million acres of grain and a state of emergency has been declared in a number of regions.
Lack of precipitation and temperatures hovering in the 30-36 C degree range (86-97 F) have frazzled crops in 16 regions in central and southern Russia.
Farmers have sounded the alarm, warning of dramatic grain shortages. However, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin expressed confidence in Russia’s ability to contain the problem, pledging subsidies and support to the farming industry.
Read more
“We have to nip in the bud any attempt to profit from this misfortune, the drought,” Putin urged.
Agriculture Minister Elena Skrynnik spoke on Monday during a government presidium session, putting this year’s grain forecast at 85 million tons (versus last year’s 97 million).
“I think we will be able to handle the situation and keep our export potential,” Skrynnik said during a subsequent meeting on Tuesday.
Bloomberg: Wheat Drops as Global Stockpiles May Make Up for Russian Losses
By Luzi Ann Javier
July 14 (Bloomberg) -- Wheat futures declined for a third day in four sessions in Chicago on speculation that abundant global supply will be sufficient to make up for potential production losses in Russia.
September delivery wheat lost as much as 0.6 percent to $5.46 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade and was at $5.4825 at 11:10 a.m. Singapore time. Wheat’s 14-day relative strength index has been above 70 since July 7, a signal some traders use to indicate prices are poised to fall.
“At the end of the day, we still do have ample carry-over supplies,” Luke Mathews, a commodity strategist at Commonwealth Bank of Australia, said by phone from Sydney today.
Global wheat stockpiles at the beginning of the 2010-2011 marketing year are 193 million metric tons, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said July 9. That’s more than three times the 53 million-ton forecast harvest for Russia, according to USDA data.
Hot, dry weather will persist in European parts of Russia through July 17, with rains coming to the Urals and Siberia, the Federal Hydrometeorological Service said on its website yesterday.
The government declared emergencies in two more Russian crop-producing regions on July 12, bringing the total to 16, as the worst drought in at least a decade damages grains.
“The continued focus on dryness in Russia and Kazakhstan is of significant interest,” Commonwealth Bank’s Mathews said. “It is likely the reductions that we’ve seen in yield potentials will flow through to the next round of the USDA report.”
‘Ahead of Itself’
The USDA is scheduled to release its next estimate on global agricultural supply and demand on Aug. 12.
Wheat futures may decline between 5 percent and 10 percent from today’s prices by the end of September because “the market probably got a little bit ahead of itself in terms of issues in Russia,” Mathews said. Futures jumped 14 percent this month through yesterday.
Ukraine, the second-biggest producer in the former Soviet Union, harvested wheat from 321,000 hectares as of July 8, with an average yield of 2.7 tons per hectare, compared with 2.55 tons last year, UkrAgroConsult, a Kiev, Ukraine-based researcher, said July 12.
France, the largest wheat producer in the European Union, will export 9.85 million tons of soft wheat outside the European Union, 3.6 percent more than forecast last month, as the euro’s decline makes the grain cheaper overseas, national crops office FranceAgriMer said.
Corn for December delivery was little changed at $3.865 a bushel, after swinging between gains and losses. Soybeans for November delivery were also little changed at $9.535 a bushel.
To contact the reporter on this story: Luzi Ann Javier in Singapore at ljavier@
Last Updated: July 13, 2010 23:13 EDT
Business, Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
Bloomberg: Rosneft, Mechel, VTB Group, Norilsk: Russian Equity Preview
By Anna Shiryaevskaya
July 14 (Bloomberg) -- The following companies may have unusual price changes in Russian trading. Stock symbols are in parentheses and share prices are from the previous close.
Russia’s ruble-based Micex Index added 1.7 percent to 1,367.91.
OAO Rosneft (ROSN RX): Crude for August delivery gained $2.14, or 2.9 percent, to $77.09 a barrel at 2:03 p.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Russia’s largest oil producer gained 2.8 percent to 194.80 rubles.
OAO Mechel (MTLR RX): Russia’s biggest producer of coal for steelmakers will report first-quarter earnings. Mechel rose 1.8 percent to 617.49 rubles.
VTB Group (VTBR RX): Russia’s second-biggest lender is selling 300 million Swiss francs ($284.5 million) of three-year bonds yielding 315.5 basis points over mid-swaps, or with a coupon of 4 percent, according to a banker with knowledge of the transaction. The lender added 1.8 percent to 0.0797 rubles.
OAO GMK Norilsk Nickel (GMKN RX): Valery Matvienko, first deputy chief executive officer of OAO GMK Norilsk Nickel, is leaving the company to join United Co. Rusal, said a Rusal spokeswoman who declined to be identified in line with company policy. Norilsk, Russia’s largest mine operator, rose 0.6 percent to 4,947.86 rubles.
To contact the reporter on this story: Anna Shiryaevskaya in Moscow at ashiryaevska@
Last Updated: July 13, 2010 22:00 EDT
PBN: Russia-CIS IPOs: "lots of smoke but very little fire" 79 reports of planned IPOs but only 7 floats in H1 2010
PBN
July 14, 2010
July 13, 2010, Moscow: Seventy nine companies in Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan have declared plans to issue IPOs during the first six months of 2010, but only seven have actually completed listings, according to quarterly research issued today by The PBN Company.
"There's a whole lot of smoke but very little fire when it comes to IPOs from this part of the world," said Peter Necarsulmer, Chairman and CEO of The PBN Company, financial communications advisers. "The number of companies planning IPOs continues to inflate, while actual floatations remains few and far between."
The seven IPOs in H1 2010 were valued at more than $3 billion, with RUSAL's $2.24 billion Hong Kong float representing almost three-quarters of total capital raised. Other completed transactions so far this year include: Agro-Generation ($14.4 million), Russian Sea ($90 million), Protek ($400 million), Avangard ($200 million), Kuzbass Fuel Company ($163 million) and DIOD ($9.2 million).
Bne: Russian mortgage loans top RUB1 trillion as of June 1
bne
July 14, 2010
Russia's mortgage market is picking up steam fast as consumer confidence recovers and borrowing is driven by the low interest rates.
The total volume of mortgages topped RUB1 trillion rubles as of the end of the first half of this year.
Commercial banks scaled back their mortgage programmes and just under half the loans made (RUB443bn) were offered by the five largest banks with state-owned banks VTB Bank and Sberbank accounting for 65% of total lending says the CBR.
The same banks account for slightly less than a half of overdue loans - RUB17.5bn of RUB38bn.
Foreign currency loans accounts for less than 10% of the total portfolio or RUB39bn. However, the share of overdue mortgage loans in foreign currency of the Top-5 banks is 23% (or RUB8.9bn).
At VTB24, troubled loans accounted for 2.7% of the portfolio as of June 1 (the portfolio equaled RUR 170bn). At DeltaCredit, overdue foreign currency loans equaled 2.5%, but the bank's representative didn't disclose the amount of the portfolio.
Troika: ARMZ, Uranium One, Kazatomprom to launch joint marketing company
Troika, Russia
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
ARMZ CEO Vadim Zhivov yesterday announced that Uranium One could participate in the creation of a joint trading company between ARMZ and Kazatomprom, as stipulated in the MoU between Russia and Kazakhstan signed on July 5. The trading company will be entrusted with marketing natural uranium produced by both ARMZ and Kazatomprom, and will probably only affect operations in Kazakhstan. Since all of ARMZ's Kazakh assets are to be held within Uranium One, the company should be part of the agreement.
The precise mechanism for how the trading company will function is unclear, but the amount of uranium attributable to Uranium One/ARMZ and Kazatomprom in their JVs in Kazakhstan pro rata to their equity stakes will likely be jointly marketed to utilities.
The way the system functions currently is quite complicated - in some JVs owned by Uranium One and Kazatomprom, the production is marketed by the JV itself and sometimes by partners in relation to their equity stakes. Also, ARMZ will offtake 51% of Uranium One's production following the completion of the acquisition.
While there are many uncertainties regarding this trading entity, it signifies the depth of the relationship between ARMZ and Kazatomprom in particular, and between Russia and Kazakhstan in the nuclear sector in general. ARMZ and its parent company, Rosatom, recently offered Kazatomprom the chance to acquire 25 50% in one of the enrichment facilities in Russia.
We think that Uranium One, which will be owned by ARMZ once the acquisition is completed and which holds stakes in JVs together with Kazatomprom, should now find itself in a something of a sweet spot.
Mikhail Stiskin
RenCap: UAC plans to negotiate new contracts in Farnborough
Renaissance Capital, Russia
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Event: According to a report by Prime-TASS yesterday (13 July), several companies controlled by United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) have announced plans to increase their order books, in the run up to next week's (19-25 July) Farnborough International Airshow.
Sukhoi Civil Aircraft intends to negotiate contracts with Southeast Asian airlines to supply 30 Sukhoi SuperJet 100 aircraft. Currently, the company has 122 orders for the SuperJet 100.
Lease company Ilyushin Finance plans to negotiate a contract to supply three AN-148 aircraft. Ilyushin Finance also intends to sign an agreement with Ukrainian aircraft construction company Antonov. Moreover, Ilyushin Finance may sign several agreements related to the MC-21 aircraft.
Yesterday, Prime-TASS also reported that the Ministry of Defence will authorise Aviastar-SP (100% controlled by UAC) to produce the AN-124 (Ruslan) aircraft. This order will allow Aviastar-SP to resume mass production of the AN-124 and to receive orders from commercial companies. In addition, the Russian Air Force plans to buy more than 60 fifth-generation aircraft, starting in 2015-2016. Currently, Sukhoi is testing the first prototype of its fifth-generation aircraft and is constructing a second prototype, with flight tests planned to start in Nov 2010.
Action: The news is positive for UAC, in our view.
Mikhail Safin
Moscow Times: Russian Post Restructuring
14 July 2010
The government plans to turn Russian Post into a joint-stock company as it prepares to create a national bank out of the network, Kommersant reported Tuesday, citing a Communications Ministry report.
The change will let state development bank VEB buy a stake in Russian Post and increase its capital, the newspaper reported.
(Bloomberg)
Troika: Norilsk Nickel COO departs amid shareholder battle
Troika, Russia
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Norilsk Nickel COO Valery Matvienko has resigned as a result of the escalating conflict between UC RUSAL on the one side and the company's management and Interros on the other, Interfax reported yesterday.
Under the shareholder agreement between Interros and UC RUSAL, the former seconded CFO Dmitri Kostoev to the company, while the latter seconded Matvienko, who had previously been in charge of operations at UC RUSAL and had earned a very strong reputation on the market.
Given the clashes between UC RUSAL and the management/Interros regarding the results of the AGM in June, when UC RUSAL failed to secure the appropriate number of seats on the BoD, both parties do not seem to feel bound by the terms of the shareholder agreement. Apparently, Matvienko's functioning in the capacity of COO was constrained, leading to his resignation.
Overall, while we believe that the system of checks and balances on Norilsk Nickel's BoD should serve the interest of minority shareholders, the escalation of the current conflict is clearly detrimental to the company's operations and its franchise. We expect there to be some tacit or overt influence from the Kremlin in mediating the conflict.
Mikhail Stiskin
Emerging Markets: EXCLUSIVE: VTB Capital boost staff with five hires
by admin on July 14, 2010
By Andrei Skvarsky.
Russian investment bank VTB Capital has made another five hires since mid-June as part of its bid to increase personnel this year by 40% to 1,000.
Four of the newcomers are posted at the Moscow office of VTB Capital. Three of these come from rival Russian investment banks.
Pavel Vasilyev, appointed as director of structuring, was previously a director at Renaissance Capital. Dilyara Taktashova, now executive director for legal affairs at VTB Capital, is another defector from Rencap, where she was a senior lawyer. Troika Dialog was the previous employer of Ivan Kozlov, who has started at VTB’s foreign exchange and interest rates derivatives desk.
Evgeny Lashutin was an investment analyst with Russian nanotechnology corporation RUSNANO before joining VTB as a senior analyst.
The fifth recruit, Yuri Miroshnichenko, is a director at VTB Capital’s London office.
VTB Capital, which is aggressively expanding into Russian and international financial markets, made its debut more than two years ago by aggressively poaching more than 100 staff from Deutsche Bank.
Reuters: UPDATE 1-Naspers buys 28.7 pct of Russia's Internet firm
11:28am IST
* Naspers to pay $388 mln, hand over its stake in Mail.ru
* Russia's DST to own all of Mail.ru after the deal
(Adds details)
JOHANNESBURG, July 14 (Reuters) - Africa's biggest media group Naspers (NPNJn.J: Quote, Profile, Research) will buy more than a quarter of one of Russia's top Internet firm Digital Sky Technologies (DST) in cash and shares as it bulks up its fast-growing Internet unit.
Naspers said on Wednesday it will hand over its 39.3 percent stake in its Russian unit Mail.ru, which it co-owned along with DST for the past three years.
Along with the shares, it will pay a further $388 million for a 28.7 percent stake in DST, which runs instant messaging platforms and social network sites in the east European country.
Unlike many of its global rivals, which have been battered by the drop in traditional advertising revenue, Naspers has been helped by its 30 percent stake in Tencent Holdings (0700.HK: Quote, Profile, Research), China's biggest Internet firm.
Naspers, which runs pay-TV channels across Africa and has stakes in Internet firms in Asia and Europe, told Reuters last month it was looking to acquire more e-commerce firms in emerging markets. [ID:nLDE65S0EK]
Russian DST will be the sole owner of Mail.ru following the transaction. (Reporting by Tiisetso Motsoeneng)
July 14, 2010, 1:23 a.m. EDT
Market Watch: Naspers Makes Strategic Investment in Digital Sky Technologies (DST)
DST to assume full control of Mail.ru upon share swap with Naspers
JOHANNESBURG & MOSCOW, Jul 14, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Naspers Limited ("Naspers"), the broad based international media group, and Digital Sky Technologies Limited ("DST"), one of the largest internet companies in the Russian-speaking markets, announces today that Naspers's subsidiary Myriad International Holdings B.V. ("MIH") will take a 28,7% stake in DST. The transaction will be effected by Naspers contributing its 39,3% stake in Mail.ru into DST and investing US$388m in cash. Concurrently, Mail.ru management and other minorities will also convert their shares into DST.
Upon the close of this transaction, DST will own over 99,9% of Mail.ru. Mail.ru is the leading communication and entertainment platform in the Russian-speaking internet world, with over 50m registered email accounts, leading market share in MMO games and one of the leading social networks in Russia.
Naspers and DST have worked closely together over the past three years as co-owners of Mail.ru and today's transaction will enable them to further strengthen that relationship.
Chief Executive Officer of DST, Yuri Milner, said, "Naspers's strategic insight has already proven to be valuable in our partnership and we welcome the expertise they will bring to DST. We are delighted to announce this transaction and look forward to creating further value through our relationship."
Antonie Roux, head of Naspers's internet operations, commented: "We have known DST and its management for years and we share a similar view and approach. We are excited to strengthen our partnership. This opportunity further expands our exposure to emerging markets and the fast-growing internet sector."
About Digital Sky Technologies
DST was founded in 2005 and is one of the largest internet companies in the Russian-speaking and Eastern European markets and one of the leading investment groups globally to exclusively focus on internet related companies. DST, together with its affiliate DST Global, also holds stakes in internet world leaders such as Facebook, Zynga and Groupon. DST is a privately held company backed by leading international financial institutions and companies. For more information please visit .
About Naspers
Naspers is a leading emerging market media group operating in 129 countries. It is listed on the Johannesburg Securities Exchange (JSE), with an ADR (American Deposit Receipt) listing on the London Stock Exchange. The group's principal operations are in internet platforms (focusing on commerce, communities, content, communication and games), pay-television and the provision of related technologies and print media (including publishing, distribution and printing of magazines, newspapers and books). The group's most significant operations in emerging markets include South Africa and sub-Saharan Africa, China, Central and Eastern Europe, India, Brazil, Russia and Thailand. For more information visit .
SOURCE: Digital Sky Technologies
Bloomberg: Naspers Unit to Buy 28.7% of Digital Sky Technologies
July 14, 2010, 2:45 AM EDT
(Updates with transaction terms in second paragraph.)
July 14 (Bloomberg) -- Naspers Ltd., Africa’s biggest media company, said its pay-TV unit will buy a 28.7 percent stake in Russia’s Digital Sky Technologies, gaining a holding in the owner of the ICQ online messaging system.
Naspers’s Myriad International Holdings division will pay $338 million to buy shares from existing DST investors and another $50 million for new stock in the Russian company, the Cape Town-based company said today in a statement. The unit, known as MIH, will give DST its 39.3 percent stake in Mail.ru, a Russian Internet and gaming company that the Moscow-based company controls.
The South African company has added Internet businesses domestically and in Brazil, Russia and Poland in the past year. Naspers said on June 29 that it will continue to expand by adding sales at existing businesses and through acquisitions, focused on the Internet, where the industry “showed bold growth in emerging markets.”
Digital Sky agreed in April to buy ICQ from AOL Inc. for $188 million, gaining control of the leading instant-messenger operator in Russia and Eastern Europe. The Moscow-based company also owns a stake in online networking site Facebook Inc.
--Editors: Tom Lavell, Robert Valpuesta.
To contact the reporter on this story: Renee Bonorchis in Johannesburg at rbonorchis@.
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Frank Connelly at fconnelly@; Edward Evans at eevans3@.
BBJ: Malév makes first repayment on Vnesheconombank loans
Tuesday 13:05, July 13th, 2010
Hungarian national airline Malév has made its first repayment on €114 million in loans from Russia's state-owned Vnesheconombank (VEB), about six months after the bank took an indirect stake in the airline, Russian business daily Kommersant reported on Tuesday, citing information from the Hungarian-Russian intergovernment committee.
Malév made the first repayment, of €465,000, a week earlier, the paper said. VEB confirmed the first repayment had been made.
Malév was renationalized in February through a HUF 25.4 billion capital raise by the state, including HUF 20.7 billion in cash and HUF 4.7 billion in converted debt.
In March, the government decided on an HUF 8.1 billion owners' loan for Malév to give it liquidity to operate. But disbursement of the loan was delayed by VEB - the 49% owner of AirBridge, Malév's former majority owner which now holds a 5% stake in the airline - until Malév's ground handling unit was put up as collateral. The first, HUF 3.44 billion tranche of the loan was paid on July 1, sources close to the intergovernment committee told Kommersant.
A full review of Malév's position is to be completed by July 20, after which time a decision on the airline's future can be made.
VEB has said it is prepared to part with its stake if a strategic investor is interested in the airline.
Asked by MTI a few days earlier whether there were any plans to involve a private investor in Malév, government commissioner in charge of air travel Attila Márton said no, but he did not exclude the possibility of the airline being an attractive investment, perhaps even to Hungarian investors. The question is only when, he added. (MTI-Econews)
VOR: Russian automaker to use Japanese press machine line
|Jul 14, 2010 10:18 Moscow Time |
On Wednesday, a new press machine line by Japan's Komatsu company is to be launched at Russia's AvtoVAZ car maker.
The line will be used for the production of moulded car parts.
Russia does not have an analogue of the Japanese press machine line which is three times more efficient than the current Russian equipment.
Last Update: July 14, 2010 02:43 ET
Livetradingnews: Cathay Pacific begins regular flights from Hong Kong to Moscow
Cathay Pacific Airways formally launched its regular flight services between Moscow and Hong Kong Tuesday.
The 1st group of passengers were scheduled to depart for Hong Kong at 05:45 p.m. local time (1345 GMT) aboard an Airbus 340-330 aircraft from Moscow’s Domodedovo airport.
Quince W. Y. Chong, Director Corporate Affairs of the airline, said at a press conference that the flight is scheduled 3 times a week on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, between Hong Kong International airport and Domodedovo airport.
The number of Russian tourists has significantly increased due to the introduction of a Visa free regime between Moscow and Hong Kong last July.
“We believe the launch of the new airliner will promote economic, tourism, cultural and personnel interaction between Moscow and Hong Kong,” she said.
The Domodedovo airport located on the southeastern outskirts of Moscow is currently Russia’s largest airport. In Y 2009, the airport registered around 18.7M passengers.—Paul A. Ebeling, Jnr.
Last Update: July 14, 2010 02:36 ET
Livetradingnews: BRIC: Freight turnovers see huge increase in Russia’s Far Eastern ports
Freight turnover at Russia’s Far Eastern ports increased to 57.36M tonnes in the 1st half of Y 2010, 1.7 times more than the same period last year, the Vostok-Media news agency reported Tuesday.
According to the report, Vanino Port companies increased turnover by 10.3% to 12.28M tonnes, Vladivostok reported 20.1% turnover growth to 8.1M tonnes, while Nakhodka increased 4.5% to 8.11M tonnes.
Vostochny Port companies’ turnover increased 1.9 times to 17.12M tonnes, mainly due to operation of the oil trans-shipment complex in Kozmino.
Turnover at Sakhalin doubled to 10.14M tonnes due to Crude Oil and Nat Gas trans shipment in Prigorodny.
Meanwhile, for all Russian cargo ports in the 1st 6 months of the year, freight turnover increased 9.7% compared with the same period of last year and amounted to 258.37M tonnes. —Paul A. Ebeling, Jnr.
Moscow Times: For the Record
14 July 2010
• The German and Russian governments are discussing Sistema’s possible interest in taking a stake in Infineon Technologies, a German official said Tuesday in Berlin.
(Bloomberg)
• Comstar United TeleSystems received an offer from Mobile TeleSystems to buy as many as 37.6 million Comstar ordinary shares representing 9 percent of Comstar’s issued share capital that MTS doesn’t already own for 220 rubles ($7) per Comstar share.
(Bloomberg)
• Kuzbassrazrezugol said Tuesday that first-half output rose 8 percent to 23.6 million metric tons as demand for coal grew. Output of coking coal, used to make steel, almost doubled to 2.12 million tons, it said.
(Bloomberg)
• Donald Trump is considering real estate investments including casinos and golf courses in Georgia after being impressed by President Mikheil Saakashvili during a meeting in New York, said Michael Cohen, a senior official with the Trump Organization.
(Bloomberg)
Etfdb: Why Russia’s Trade Pact Is Big News For RSX
by Eric Dutram on July 14, 2010 | ETFs Mentioned: RBL • RSX
As the economies of Western Europe have grown more intertwined over the past few years, Russia has been left on the sidelines. Blocked out of NATO and the EMU even as both organizations creep ever closer to its western boarders, the once mighty superpower was quickly being boxed in and losing influence over former Cold War allies. However, Russia has experienced somewhat of a resurgence as of late and is seeking to regain its role on the world stage by further exercising its diplomatic and economic might. This is evidenced by the recent trade deal that was signed between the leaders of Russia, Kazakhstan, and Belarus, which is seen by many as a watershed event in post-Soviet relations. “This is a very positive paradigm shift in how Russia deals with the near abroad,” said Yaroslav Lissovolik, the chief economist at Deutsche Bank in Moscow to the New York Times. “Previously, it was a one-way street where Russia was giving out economic favors in exchange for political favors.”
The deal, which was signed in the Kazakh capital of Astana earlier this month, looks to push the economies closer together by forming a customs union that will fully abolish all duties and tariffs between the three. This pact, which can be thought of as a Russian NAFTA, is likely to have a huge impact on the Russian economy for years to come, especially as more ex-Soviet republics move to join the union. In fact, just days after the pact was announced, the leaders of Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, two countries heavily reliant on migrant labor remittances from Russia, said they were interested in joining the union. As these countries move closer together, three important events are likely to transpire that could give a boost to the Russian economy [also read ETF Plays To Follow Cisco Into Russia]:
1. Cements Moscow’s Status As Financial Capital
The deal could open up the other two nations to Russian investment and expertise, especially in the banking industry. That would be crucial for the extremely command-driven economy of Belarus, which is looking to privatize major industries in order to provide financing in light of the global economic slump. This should help Russia diversify away from natural resource production and develop its service sectors, a primary goal of the current administration. The pact could also eventually be regarded as the first step to a common currency among the ex-Soviet countries. “We’ve now neared a very high level of integration,” Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said during a bilateral meeting with his Kazakh counterpart, Nursultan Nazarbayev. “Looking forward, there’s cooperation on the common economic space, and in the future … a common market and, I think, ultimately the creation of the foundations for a shared currency zone” [also see Three Country ETFs With Low Debt-To-GDP].
2. Access To Excess Labor Pools
One of the major problems facing Russia today is its shrinking population, development that is forcing the country to import thousands of workers in order to keep its economy going forward. This pact should allow for workers to more easily enter Russia, which could help to boost the economy in the near-term. Russia currently has a population growth rate that is among the 20 lowest in the world, has one of the lowest birth rates, and one of the highest death rates; if the Russians want to continue to grow the consumption and service side of the economy, many more workers and citizens from ex-Soviet nations will be needed [see Emerging Market ETFs: Where's The Consumer Exposure?].
3. Delay Russian Entry Into WTO
Despite the positives of the trade deal, it is seen by many as possibly delaying the country’s entry into the World Trade Organization. This is largely due to Russian leaders calling for a joint bid between the three for membership in the WTO, something that is unlikely to happen in the near future given how far behind the economies of Kazakhstan and especially Belarus are from complying with the WTO requirements. Russia is by far the largest non-WTO member in the world, and its continued absence from the organization is likely to restrict investment from those who are more attracted to countries with more liberalized and transparent trade practices [also read Seven Most Corrupt Country ETFs].
Russia ETFs In Focus
For investors looking to establish exposure to the Russian economy, there are two interesting ETF options:
Market Vectors Russia ETF (RSX)
RSX is one of the most established funds in the Emerging Markets ETFdb Category, with more than $1.7 billion in assets and more than 3.75 million shares trading hands on an average trading day. The fund contains 44 securities in total and has heavy weightings towards energy giants Gazprom (12.1%) and Lukoil (8.1%). Not surprisingly, the fund is heavily weighted towards the energy sector, which makes up about 40% of the total assets, followed by industrial materials (26%) and financials (12%). The fund has a heavy focus on giant and large cap firms, which combine to make up more than 80% of the fund’s total assets. RSX charges an expense ratio of 0.62% [see Top Ten Equity ETFs of 2009].
SPDR S&P Russia ETF (RBL)
Although much smaller in terms of assets than its Market Vectors counterpart, RBL charges a slightly lower expense ratio, and may offer an interesting investment choice for long-term investors. The fund tracks the S&P Russia Capped BMI Index, a float-adjusted market cap index designed to define and measure the investable universe of publicly-traded companies domiciled in Russia. Much like RSX, this fund is heavily weighted towards energy companies which make up about 42% of total assets. Other large allocations include industrial materials (19%) and telecommunication (12%) firms, while technology firms and utilities receive minimal weightings [also see Russia ETFs Head-To-Head: RBL vs. RSX].
For more ETF ideas make sure to sign up for our free ETF newsletter or check out our ETF Screener.
Disclosure: No positions at time of writing.
ETF Database is not an investment advisor, and any content published by ETF Database does not constitute individual investment advice. The opinions offered herein are not personalized recommendations to buy, sell or hold securities. From time to time, issuers of exchange-traded products mentioned herein may place paid advertisements with ETF Database. All content on ETF Database is produced independently of any advertising relationships. Read the full disclaimer here.
Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
07/14 11:52 FOREIGNERS TO GET 49% IN YAMAL LIQUEFIED NATURAL GAS PROJECT – NOVATEK
Bloomberg: Shell Says Sakhalin LNG Project Turns Profit, Vedomosti Reports
By Ilya Khrennikov
July 14 (Bloomberg) -- Royal Dutch Shell Plc said its liquiefied natural gas venture with OAO Gazprom on Russia’s Sakhalin Island reached operational profitability, Vedomosti reported, citing Chief Executive Officer Peter Voser.
Shell is seeking licenses to produce oil in Russia, both by itself and with domestic companies, Voser was cited as saying in an interview published in the Moscow-based newspaper today.
Voser also reiterated Shell’s interest in joining Russia’s second LNG project, run by OAO Novatek on the Yamal Peninsula in the Arctic, Vedomosti reported.
Click here for web link
Last Updated: July 14, 2010 00:54 EDT
Metropol: LUKOIL may be forced to buy 51% of ERG's ISAB refinery at a premium to fair value this year
Metropol
July 14, 2010
This could have a negative impact on market perceptions of the company, but would only reduce our FV estimate by 2%.
CEO of Italian oil company Edoardo Raffinerie Garrone (ERG), Alessandro Garrone, said the company may exercise its option to sell a 51% stake in the 320,000 bpd ISAB refinery to LUKOIL. This would be done gradually, but ERG has not yet decided on the best timing for the sale, Garrone said. The option expires in 2014. Garrone also mentioned that LUKOIL could acquire ERG's filling station network in Italy.
We think the strike price of the put option is likely to be close to the price LUKOIL paid in 2008 to acquire 49% in the ISAB JV, or USD 1.8bn. Given currently weak refining margins, LUKOIL could have to pay a 25-30% premium to the fair value of the asset, up to USD 500mn. Such a deal would go against LUKOIL's determination to halt downstream acquisitions and could have a negative impact on market sentiment. In terms of fair value, though, we doubt it would cut more than USD 2 per share, or 2%.
Alexei Kokin
RenCap: LUKOIL may buy the remaining 51% stake in ISAB refinery
Renaissance Capital, Russia
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Event: Today (14 July), Vedomosti reported (referencing Italian newspaper II Sole 24 Ore) that ERG may soon exercise a put option to sell a 51% stake in the ISAB refinery to LUKOIL. The option expires in 2014, but according to comments by ERG CEO Edoardo Garrone, the company is considering an earlier execution. Vedomosti reports that the price may be close to the price LUKOIL paid for its 49% stake in the refinery (EUR1.3bn). The newspaper also mentioned that ERG is considering selling its chain of 2,000 petrol stations to LUKOIL.
Action: We retain our BUY rating on LUKOIL.
Rationale: LUKOIL purchased a 49% stake in the ISAB refinery (16mn tpa capacity, 9.3 Nelson complexity index) in May 2008 for EUR1.3bn. Since then, LUKOIL has mentioned plans to expand in the downstream segment in Italy, so the news about ERG should not come as a major surprise. However, we note that the EV of the whole ERG company (which, besides ISAB, includes minority stakes in two smaller refineries in Italy, with a total net capacity of 3.2mn tpa and 2,000 petrol stations) is about EUR2.9bn (according to Bloomberg), which means that LUKOIL's purchase price is likely to be higher than the market-implied valuation of ISAB. However, the overall size of the potential investment will be relatively small for LUKOIL, while allowing the company to strengthen its presence in the European downstream segment.
Ildar Davletshin
Gazprom
RenCap: Gazprom neft close to selling 5.7% stake in Sibir Energy to City of Moscow
Renaissance Capital, Russia
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Event: Today (14 July), several Russian newspapers reported that Gazprom neft and the City of Moscow are getting closer to signing an agreement for Moscow to purchase about 5.7% of Sibir Energy from Gazprom neft, increasing Moscow's stake to 25%. According to unidentified sources, the deal is expected to close by the end of the summer, although the purchase price seems to be still under discussion. Kommersant mentioned today that it could be close to $180mn. A separate shareholder agreement between the two parties is also planned.
Action: We retain our HOLD rating on Gazprom neft.
Rationale: We welcomed earlier news of a final resolution of the ownership dispute at Sibir Energy and the Moscow refinery (click here to read our article "Gazprom neft increases its stake in Sibir Energy to 80%" in the CIS Morning Monitor dated 25 May 2010). We expect this to lead to more efficient management and speedier implementation of the company's investment programme. We see today's news as a further indication that the process is moving in the right direction.
Ildar Davletshin
Novinite: German Papers: Gazprom Wants to Knock Nabucco Out
Energy | July 13, 2010, Tuesday
German papers Handelsblatt and Die Welt write Tuesday that Russian energy giant is taking concrete steps to hinder the completion of EU gas pipeline Nabucco.
The two papers come out with materials commenting the recent move on the part of Gazprom to invite German energy giant RWE to join rival project South Stream. Up to this point, RWE is serously committed to Nabucco and a switch to South Stream is seen as posing great danger for the completion of EU project.
Handelsblatt has called Gazprom's move “Putin's immoral offer”, writing that “Behind the friendly offer are lying unfriendly calculations. Gazprom wants to eliminate a competitor in the bitter fight for future market shares in the European market of gas.”
Die Welt, on its part, comes with headlines saying that Gazprom is “driving a wedge” and “causing trouble” for Nabucco. The materials comment that the Russian company is taking advantage of lack of clarity and palpable developments on the European project.
Handelsblatt puts the events in the context of Gazprom growing “nervous” because of developments in the gas markets in the last two years involving frozen prices of gas and better opportunities for diversified deliveries to Europe, including possibilities such as liquefied natural gas and shale gas.
Those conditions endanger a “monopoly” position of Gazprom on European gas deliveries, which would be further complicated by the potential completion of Nabucco.
Handelsblatt quotes an “influential energy-manager” at RWE saying that Gazprom is trying to “blow up” the Nabucco-consortium.
The German paper further draws attention to the opportunities given by shale gas, the extraction of which has been pioneered mainly in the US. It quotes estimates of the US Department of Energy to the effect that the USA have non-conventional gas deposits to satisfy internal demand for the next 90-120 years.
Tuesday the American ambassador in Bulgaria James Warlick presented in Sofia the offer of US company Chevron to drill for shale gas in Bulgaria.
Handelsblatt recalls earlier Gazprom advances to Austrian OMV, which previously supported only Nabucco, and now is involved in both projects, saying Gazprom now wants to achieve a better result with RWE by inducing it to switch sides.
The paper adds to that context the “close friendship” between RWE CEO Jürgen Großmann and Gazprom official (and former German federal chancellor) Gerhard Schröder.
Russia-IC: Gazprom throws up cards in India
13.07.2010
For 10 years Gazprom has been taking its chance to find hydrocarbon in the Bay of Bengal. It failed. There is no specification of cash amount that the company has bleeded during these years, but the fact of material loss is obvious.
The hystory of the grand fail tells that in 2000 the Gazprom bought a license from India to drill two wells in pair with the Indian GAIL Limited, India's flagship natural gas company that integrates all aspects of the natural gas value chain (including Exploration & Production, Processing, Transmission, Distribution and Marketing) and its related services.
After 7 years of unsuccessfull search the GAIL lost all hopes and quitted the duet. The Gazprom happened to be much more rock-ribbed. Evidently, the reason was the famous Russian stubbornness. However that may be, the Gazprom went on piercing the bed of Bengal Bay for another 3 years, and now it also hangs out the white flag.
It is unlikely that the greatest "monster" of the Russian natural gas industry would share souvenirs leaving India for home, unless those would be a couple of the company's drilling machines. Good for you, because at our site you may choose your own Russian souvenir among much more other variants.
Pipeline is not being sold to Russia - Georgian MP
Wed 14 July 2010 | 07:38 GMT
News.az: Gas pipeline debated in Georgian Parliament
Georgian Parliament passed on July 13 with 68 votes to 4 with second hearing a draft law on privatization of state assets, lifting restriction on sale of Georgia’s North-South Gas Pipeline.
The discussion with the second hearing triggered debates among lawmakers, which was similar to the one that took place during the first hearing.
The ruling party lawmakers were repeatedly stating during the debates that there was no intention to sell the pipeline to Russia, but the opposition said the verbal pledge was not enough.
Lawmaker from the parliamentary minority again insisted on including a provision in the draft, which would allow sale of no more than 49% of pipeline shares. But lawmakers from the ruling party again rejected the proposal.
During the debates parliamentary minority leader, MP Giorgi Targamadze of Christian-Democratic Movement, quoted President Saakashvili’s newspaper interview from 2002 -when Saakashvili was opposition leader – saying that selling of North-South Gas Pipeline to Russia was inadmissible as it would have shattered Georgia’s drive to Euro-Atlantic integration.
“Remarks made [by Saakashvili] in 2002 was quoted here, but [the parliamentary minority] does not see difference between Georgia of 2002 and Georgia now – at that time Georgia was solely depended on Russian source of gas supply and now we are no longer depended on that source, as we have diversified our gas supplies and you should see this difference,” MP Pavle Kublashvili of the ruling party, who is a co-sponsor of the draft, responded.
The North-South Gas Pipeline is used to transit Russian gas to Armenia via Georgia. It is currently operated by state-owned Georgian Oil and Gas Corporation (GOGC). The Georgian government said that it was considered initial public offering of GOGC’s minority shares at London Stock Exchange in several years, but not in next couple of years.
Georgia has undertaken a commitment before the US, in frames of Millennium Challenge Account aid program, not to sell or transfer the North-South Gas Pipeline or GOGC until April, 2011, when the aid program comes to the end. About USD 35 million has been allocated in frames of this aid program to rehabilitate this pipeline.
During the parliamentary debates on July 13, the parliamentary minority called on the ruling party not to hurry with adoption of the draft and to give more time for public discussions on the matter.
“No matter how much we will speak about this issue, there is single simple answer on that: the pipeline is not being sold to Russia,” MP Kublashvili of the ruling party said.
Civil Georgia
: Gazprom quashes fears over Georgia pipeline stake
Author: Lianna Brinded
Source: Energy Risk | 13 Jul 2010
Categories: Gas
Russia’s energy giant Gazprom shoots down fears that it is looking to acquire or has acquired a significant stake in Georgia’s main natural gas pipeline and says it is only hypothetically interested in an acquisition
Gazprom, the world’s largest gas producer, has dampened fears that it has already acquired or is planning to buy a stake in a part of Georgia’s North-South trunk gas pipeline, which could change the dynamic of how Armenia receives its gas. Gazprom said it is only hypothetically interested and is not actively seeking a stake at the moment.
A Gazprom official told Energy Risk: “We do not hold any equity in the pipeline at all. If we even considered it a possibility, the first step would be to await the final decision from the Georgian Parliament, not only through first session results but on final results on its [economic and business] restructuring programme. The complete pipeline would have to be included in the list for privatisation.”
“Then, feasibility studies would have to be carried out, to enable any decision on acquiring a stake in the pipeline. It is only on having these results, that Gazprom experts would be able to judge whether a deal is feasible,” the official added.
Earlier this month, Georgian Prime Minister Nikoloz Gilauri revealed in an interview of plans to sell 10% to 15% of Georgia’s trunk gas pipeline on the London Stock Exchange in 2 to 3 years' time. The announcement came as a shock as Georgia would have to effectively restructure its economy to accommodate foreign investment in Georgian businesses.
The Georgian government is currently reviewing whether it will allow privatisation and foreign investment for most of its businesses. A change in regulation is needed to allow non Georgian-national companies to acquire stakes in the country’s businesses.
However, despite Gilauri saying Georgia plans to privatise the pipeline, there are several factors that seem to make this unlikely, thus preventing companies like Gazprom to seek a stake.
In April 2006, Georgia and the USA signed an agreement as part of the independent US foreign aid agency Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) under which the US would disburse $295.4 million in financial aid. A portion of this aid would be used to rehabilitate the gas pipeline on condition that the Georgian Gas International Corporation (GGIC), which manages the pipeline, would not privatise the asset without written consent from the MCC. The project ended in February 2010. Another clause within the agreement stipulates that if Georgia privatises the gas pipeline in any way, the country must return all the financial aid.
Eurasianet: Is Gazprom Waiting to Pounce on a Piece of a Georgian Pipeline?
July 13, 2010 - 2:47pm, by Nino Pasturia
An effort to remove Georgia’s North-South gas pipeline from a list of strategic state-owned properties is stirring controversy. Officials in Tbilisi maintain that full privatization of the pipeline is not an option, but some economic analysts contend that even the projected sale of a minority stake in the route could threaten Georgia’s energy security.
During a second reading on July 13, the Georgian parliament approved amendments to privatization legislation that would strip the pipeline of its protected category as a “strategic object.” The amendments must go through a third reading before receiving final parliamentary approval.
MP Lasha Tordia, one of the proposal’s sponsors and a member of the governing United National Movement, has argued that designating the trunk pipeline as a “strategic” asset is an outdated concept. The time has come for a “conceptual change” in how such assets are viewed, he declared at a July 12 round-table on the proposal, sponsored by the Open Society Georgia Foundation in Tbilisi.
“[W]e had no electricity and gas when the gas and electricity distributions were under state ownership, but this issue is solved now when they are in private ownership,” Tordia said. “Thus, this object [the pipeline] can also be in private ownership.” He rejected an assertion that the idea to sell off a stake in the pipeline was connected to a government budget deficit.
Prime Minister Nika Gilauri, a former energy minister, is on record as being a steadfast opponent of giving private owners a majority stake in the pipeline. But he conceded that 10-15 percent of the pipeline could be offered via the London Stock Exchange in the next few years.
Most Georgian critics of the amendments have focused on the possibility of the Russian state-controlled behemoth Gazprom gaining a stake in the pipeline, which carries Russian gas to Armenia. The energy giant had expressed interest in such a deal back in 2005, reportedly offering as much as $250 million for the pipeline. A $49.5-million energy infrastructure rehabilitation project from the US-run Millennium Challenge Corporation helped derail those Gazprom negotiations.
In Armenia, which depends on the pipeline for its gas supplies from Russia, many are worried about the possibility that an Azerbaijani buyer could come forward. Armenia and Azerbaijan have tangled for more than 20 years over the Nagorno-Karabakh territory, and an Azerbaijani stake in the pipeline would be viewed in Yerevan as a possible instrument of coercion in the peace process. [For background see EurasiaNet’s archive].
Aside from its cooperation with Tbilisi on the Baku-Ceyhan-Tbilisi and Baku-Erzurum pipelines, the State Oil Company of the Azerbaijani Republic (SOCAR) has a sizeable presence in Georgia’s retail gasoline market, and it is working to ship natural gas to the Black Sea port of Poti.
In Baku, SOCAR’s interest in the Georgian pipeline is widely viewed as tepid at best. Azerbaijani media outlets reported in early July that KazMunaiGas, a state-run Kazakhstani company, had opened negotiations about acquiring a stake in the Georgian pipeline. KazMunaiGas already runs Tbilisi’s gas distribution network and also owns an oil terminal in Batumi. Georgian Energy Minister Aleksandre Khetaguri denied the reports.
“No privatization of the main gas pipeline is being discussed at the moment, neither with the Kazakhs nor with anybody else,” Khetaguri told . “Removal of the gas pipeline from the list of strategic objects never meant that it would be privatized. Only 10-15 percent of it can be divested via the LSE as the prime minister stated, and only in about two to three years.”
KazMunaiGas representatives were unavailable for comment. But many Georgian economic and energy analysts consider selling stakes in the pipeline a non-starter.
“The Georgian trunk pipeline is a political rather than an economic asset and it behooves the government not to divest it,” asserted economic analyst Shota Murghulia. “The entire world, including America, recognizes objects of strategic importance and I cannot understand why we play down this issue. This pipeline is a tool for bargaining with Russia that it is vitally interested to use to supply Armenia, its political ally.”
At the Open Society Georgia Foundation round-table, opposition MPs called for the insertion of language into the amendment that would explicitly prohibit private investors from acquiring controlling stakes in state property assets. Minister Khetaguri told that there was no need for such measures since divesture of more than 75 percent of the pipeline is banned under the law. That provision, however, has done little to reassure the opposition. [Editor’s Note: The Open Society Georgia Foundation is part of the Soros Foundations network. operates under the auspices of the Open Society Institute, a separate part of the network].
The Millennium Challenge program to upgrade the pipeline “prohibits its divesture until the compact is finished [in April 2011],” said Vato Lezhava, an adviser to the prime minister. A US Agency for International Development project to enhance gas supplies to Poti “also prohibits divesture of the North-South pipeline for several years,” he said.
In response to critics, MP Todia asserted that “[e]ven if Russia owns it, I see no danger as you do.” Russian, Kazakhstani and Czech companies’ ownership of various parts of Georgia’s energy network means that no single company can gain a strategic hold on the sector, he claimed.
Georgia’s talk of a limited sell-off could be a trial balloon designed to gauge international interest, suggested energy analyst Liana Jervalidze. As other players enter the South Caucasus energy market, that interest is likely to extend beyond Russia. “I do not exclude that Armenia, Kazakhstan, even Iran or some other investor would bid for these assets,” Jervalidze noted.
Editor's note:
Nino Patsuria is a freelance business reporter based in Tbilisi.
Ria Dagestan: Magomedsalam Magomedov: “Gazprom” activity is an example of social responsibility of large business”
13.07.2010 , 15:55
Text: Andrey Bondarev
Makhachkala, July 13, 2010. On July, 12, the meeting devoted to questions of gas supply of the republic took place in Makhachkala.
The President of Dagestan Magomedsalam Magomedov, the vice-chairman of the government RD Rizvan Gazimagomedov, the general director of “Gazprom transgas Makhachkala” Kerim Gusejnov, the assistant of the Plenipotentiary Envoy of the President of the Russian Federation in the North Caucasian Federal District Maxim Bystrov and the vice-president of board of OAO Gazprom Valery Golubev took part in the meeting.
Making a speech, the President of the republic noted that participation of OAO "Gazprom" in the building of social objects showed constructive cooperation of corporation and local authorities. “It is an example of social responsibility of large business”, - Magomedsalam Magomedov said
The head of the republic said that the meeting would allow to solve all questions connected with the further gas supply of the republic, the creation of unified gas-distributing organization in Dagestan.
The vice-president of board of OAO Gazprom Valery Golubev noted active cooperation between republican authorities and OAO Gazprom. He said that projects of gas supply of Dagestan are not commercial. “It is a part of social obligations of our company”.
The head of the department of gas supply of the company "Mezhregiongaz" Nikolay Zuev told about a course of realization of the program of gas supply in Dagestan. He informed that the big work on gas supply of five mountain areas of Dagestan was done.
At the end of the meeting the President of Dagestan thanked all participants for active work. He noted that the republic authority is satisfied with investment programs of OAO Gazprom.
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